Six Worlds Down
by an-earl
Summary: He always wakes up in the ocean. Then on a cliff. Then in the snow. The scenes keep changing but he remembers nothing. Something about Raizel is extremely, terribly off, but Frankenstein can't notice it alone. Frankenstein is lost in limbo and his guides have to break him out - but no one has any idea how his world works.
1. Soothe

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Noblesse.

This was written for the 2016 Noblesse December Event hosted by Madame aZure! New prompt for each chapter - this one is "Soothe."

* * *

 **Six Worlds Down**

 **Soothe**

He wakes up in the ocean.

It is all encompassing, all boundless. The horizon is too far away from him, too distant, and it blends into the sky. There is cloudlessness and then there is this. His hands graze upon the surface he is lying on. Rough wood and chiselled edges, dry. A hand touches his and he curls his into a fist.

"Frankenstein."

Frankenstein is awake. The face that floats over him looks worried for a short moment, and then relaxes, smiling, smiling at him. There is the soft sound of water splashing, the gentle rock of their boat from side to side. Frankenstein unfurls his fist, weaving his fingers between Raizel's.

"Master," he says.

"Be careful," Raizel warns him.

Frankenstein blinks. "Pardon?"

Raizel squeezes his hand. "Be careful of the edge."

"The…edge?"

Frankenstein sits up fully and something rushes around him, the windless day replaced with another atmosphere as his hair is strewn over his face. The air feels thinner now. It feels like something has been driven out of him, and something else has come inside.

He's standing at the edge of a cliff, the sound of shipwrecks and capsizes, waves crashing upon rocks, booming below him. The ground feels like it's miles and miles away, the water, still close before his eyes.

Frankenstein is awake. Raizel has stopped holding hand, though he doesn't know when. Raizel walks to the very edge, so close to the end that soil dips under his weight and crumbles into the wind. Stones fall into the rolling sea. Frankenstein feels tense for a moment, confused. Then:

"Isn't it beautiful, Frankenstein?"

"Beautiful?"

Raizel nods at him earnestly. "The sunrise."

Frankenstein blinks. Perhaps the blue sky was never blue. The sky was gilded and fiery and alive in colour. Frankenstein goes to join him. "Yes, it's beautiful. Isn't it much better seeing the sunrise from here, up close, instead of from your window?"

Raizel brushes his hand against Frankenstein's, touching only for a moment. He looks up at him, a weary look on his face. Then Raizel smiles, a secretive something on his lips. He walks away.

Frankenstein's heart jolts in his chest; has he said something wrong? Should he say something—

 _Ah._

"Master, we can return if you miss the mansion."

"The mansion," Raizel murmurs, mulling the thought over. He shakes his head. "No." Raizel turns around fully, looking Frankenstein right in the eyes. "Beware the cold," he says.

The sun's rays soak into his back. Frankenstein takes a step forward towards Raizel. His weight shifts from the front foot back onto his back foot as ends of the cliff crumbles completely. Raizel doesn't look surprised when he watches Frankenstein disappear off the edge.

He's falling, suddenly, falling for too long and too slowly. It speeds up too abruptly.

Frankenstein is awake. He sucks in air, sucks in a cold draft that travels up his nose and melts snowflakes at the back of his oesophagus. Raizel hovers over him, sighing. He holds out a hand for him. Frankenstein takes it. He isn't surprised by Raizel's strength as he pulls him easily to his feet.

Raizel's hair is dappled with snow, most of it disappearing as it lands on his white blazer. Frankenstein gasps as he takes in his image. Quickly, he pulls off his winter coat, draping it over Raizel. "What about you?" Raizel asks, exasperated.

Frankenstein grins at him. "I'm not afraid of the cold."

They are walking on ice. Creaks and yawns and keening echoes below them like something underneath is ready to force it's way out. Raizel huffs, hot breath wafting out before them. "Lead the way."

"Yes, Master." Frankenstein thought it appropriate to bow. He takes a few steps over the ice, one slow foot over the other.

"Frankenstein?" Raizel asks.

"Yes?"

Raizel closes the coat around him tighter. "Will you tire of this soon?"

Frankenstein shakes his head before Raizel finishes. "Not with you," he says, sure of himself before he's sure of what Raizel was asking. "I may grow tired, but I will stay with you if you won't retire." Frankenstein gestures to the path he's tested.

Raizel smiles. He follows Frankenstein's footsteps on the ice. He takes two steps. On the third, a harsh, loud crack reverberates over the ice, causing vibrations to rock beneath his feet. Frankenstein looks up, terrified, before the ground gives away and he crashes into the water. He sinks, every part of him pierced with the cold, bubbles of air spilling out of him back to the surface. Raizel's figure is still visible through the thin ice. His back touches the lakebed.

The lakebed goes soft for a moment; he blinks and wonders why the world has inverted; his feet are on the ground. Frankenstein leans into the computer seat, fingers typing away at the screen.

Frankenstein is awake. Footsteps tap behind him as he's working. The smell of green tea permeates the room, beckoning him to stop. A hand touches his shoulder, causing Frankenstein to look back.

"You work diligently, Frankenstein. But, come. This is enough." Raizel picks up the porcelain cup he's bought in, pulls Frankenstein's saluting hand off his chest and presses it onto the cup. His cold hands warm up immediately.

"Thank you, My Lord," Frankenstein chuckles, taking a sip.

"It is enough, Frankenstein," Raizel repeats, and makes Frankenstein put down the cup.

"What is enough?" he asks after a moment, to be sure.

"It's enough."

His seat feels like it's rolling backwards, it feels like the ground has opened and swallowed him up whole, closed up the ceiling from where he's fallen and yet his feet are firmly planted on the ground.

"Master?" Frankenstein asks him, standing at his side as Raizel watches the fireplace. Watches the flames flicker and dance, captivated by it. Had Raizel asked him a question? He didn't remember. But wouldn't it be so rude of him not to answer? Raizel is watching the hearth. Frankenstein is awake. "Is there something I may do for you?" he asks.

Raizel cleaves his eyes from the fire to Frankenstein. "I…I…" he stutters, nails digging into the armrests of his chair.

"If it's in my power, Master, I will do it," Frankenstein says, walking up to him. "Command me."

Raizel seizes his hand, squeezing it, and brings it to his forehead. Frankenstein goes to one knee before his chair.

"Do not…" Raizel says, "…do not forget my name."

Frankenstein pulls back accidentally, breaking his hold on him. "Your…name?" he says, the words peculiar, peculiar. Everything so peculiar.

"Frankenstein."

It was Raizel's voice that had called him, so Frankenstein spun around to answer. But, Raizel is there — was there — right before him. Frankenstein turns back, but it's no longer the cosy room.

The smell of incense fumes and smoke fills the air. Long grass tickles his feet. He is barefoot, ends of his trousers rolled up and collar of his shirt open. There is Raizel, lain on the floor with his eyes closed. He too is barefoot, his cravat and blazer folded neatly next to him. Frankenstein looks down and suddenly he's looking at the grass wedged between his arms and legs, his body lying beside Raizel's. He leans his head on Raizel's shoulder, and Raizel lets him. Raizel says nothing.

Frankenstein is awake.

The slight sound of Raizel's breaths, _in, out, in out,_ lull him.

He closes his eyes to sleep.

Pair of hands grab at his clothes, lifting him all the way up before he has a chance to open his eyes in reflex, but his reflex was too slow, too slow. It all seemed to slow, the hands dishevelling his clothes, wetting the part of the garments they held, making the ends of his collars tremble.

Frankenstein pulls back, bats the man away. "What are you doing?!" he shouts, confused.

It's changed again, something to do with the dark coloured walls and orderly hall, the bronze tables, hanging lights, paintings and mirrors lining the corridor down and red, red carpet. Like something slipping away into the cracks, and something else slipping in, quietly. Always so quietly.

The face before him focuses. It's Raizel's face, wet, pale — _abnormally so —_ and fearful.

"My Lor…"

Raizel shakes his head, trying to breathe.

"Frankenstei…"

He tries to say it and is cut off unexpectedly. His mouth keeps moving but Frankenstein isn't hearing anything. He's deaf. It isn't just a tear-stained face; Raizel's hair, his clothes, were drenched, dripping water onto the red carpet, making his footsteps deepen the colour of it as he stumbles forward. He mouths words that seem to slow and distort, and Frankenstein can't concentrate, isn't sure what is happening.

 _Fra—_

 _ken—_

 _st—_

"FRANKENSTEIN!" his voice booms down the hall, finally, suddenly.

Frankenstein catches Raizel as he curls over, head bobbing dangerously. "Don't…" Raizel says, hands struggling to get a hold of him, pulling on his suit and done-up bow. "Don't fall—"

"Master!"

They collapse on the floor, water soaking into Frankenstein's pristine clothes. Frankenstein is wide awake. The fog is lifted but nothing seems coherent. "What happened?! What's wrong?! Master!" he cries, voice breaking. Anger bubbles beneath the surface as his throat clenches and swallows. "Who did this to you?!"

Raizel shakes his head, shakes it hard, urgently. "Frankenstein, Frankenstein — heed my words. You—" He hacks and places a hand on his Frankenstein's shoulder in the right way.

 _Master,_ Frankenstein mouthed, and this time it is he that is mute. He moves to claw at his neck. Raizel clasps his wrist, stopping him.

"Do not fall asleep," Raizel warns. His hair looks almost grey in this light.

"I…I don't understand. I don't understand, Master—"

The unknown sheds away into nothing — a lack of time passing, or perhaps it had passed far too fast for him to realise. The weight of something — someone — leaves his fingers. He then feels weightless.

Frankenstein wakes up in the ocean.

It is all encompassing, all boundless. The horizon is too far away from him and it blends into the sky. When he woke, he felt like he had forgotten something momentous.

There are clouds in the sky, a few tufts dotted all the way into the distance. A soft wind ripples the water. The boat rocks from side to side as Frankenstein sits up. Raizel's finger's had intertwined with his, sometime during their row out into the open.

Raizel smiles at him, and sighs a little sadly. Frankenstein's heart heaves.

"Will this not bore you soon, Frankenstein?" he asks.

"No," Frankenstein replies immediately.

"Eventually, it will," Raizel says wistfully.

Frankenstein is awake. He presses Raizel's hand to his mouth. "Never, if it's with you."

* * *

!


	2. Pretend

The prompt for chapter 2 was "Pretend."

* * *

 **Pretend**

He expects to wake up in the ocean.

He does, but he is alone. The boat rocks softly, left-right, left-right, but it stays stagnant. Frankenstein twists and turns, breath hitching when he can't seem to find Raizel. The sky is darker than what he remembers, though he doesn't know why. The water seems to grow darker with it, the shimmer of light leaving the surface.

Nightfall comes without a sunset — with no progression towards it.

Frankenstein is awake.

Oars scrape against his hand as he shifts, making him aware of them for the first time and he's surprised he hasn't noticed them before now. Carefully, he rows, powerful arms propelling him away from the direction he happened to be facing. Though he knows, has seen with his own eyes that the stretch of sea will never end.

He rows.

"Frankenstein!" and Frankenstein jumps in the boat, eyes going wide.

"M-21?!"

The oars keep moving but Frankenstein has stopped rowing. He looks up. M-21 is now rowing the boat.

"What…what are you doing here?"

"Frankenstein, listen!" M-21 seemed shaken, frantic almost, as he forces the boat back in the direction they came. "You can't listen to what Raizel says. I'm going to cut to the chase — the most important thing you need to know is that you can't trust Cadis Etrama di Raizel. Alright?!"

"What?" Frankenstein shakes his head trying to put the feeling of deja' vu away. "Do you hear yourself, M-21? You sound preposterous."

He opens his eyes and the sky seems so much closer than before. Air rushes up from between his feet, tousling his hair and clothes. Frankenstein immediately jerks back from the cliffside, gasping. But inside, there's no surprise, no jump of heart rate or heat signature in even the slightest. Overhead, the moon began to rise, pouring it's reflection into the open ocean. Frankenstein is awake.

"Frankenstein?" comes a warm voice.

Frankenstein closes his eyes, smiling. "Master." He fixes his bow, turns around, and bows politely. "I was careful," he says, though he doesn't quite know why.

Raizel smiles at him. "It's dark, isn't it?" he says suddenly.

"It is dark, but no less beautiful," Frankenstein says. The water glimmers beneath the cliff.

"Perhaps."

They regard the view for a moment before Raizel speaks again. He seems talkative today. "A stranger seeks you out," Raizel says, unblinking, "a stranger is here."

"A stranger?" Frankenstein tenses, dreamy mind instantly becoming alert. "Who?"

A claw reaches out from under his arms, pulling him away and breaking him apart from Raizel. Raizel is pushed to one side, a lean figure silhouetted before him. "Don't go near him!" M-21 shouts.

Frankenstein blanches, reacting to shield Raizel. He takes a step to rush forward in a bound, but the bank gives out and crumbles with the movement. Frankenstein gasps, a short intake of breath. M-21's head has whipped back, mouth open in horror. His upraised arm obscures Raizel, covering his eyes. Raizel's lips did not curl a millimetre out of line.

"FRANKENSTEIN!"

M-21 dives in his direction but he should know already that he can never make it. It feels a little petulant to try. Frankenstein falls, but there is enough time to sigh, look up and ponder at M-21 at the top. He's leant over the cliffside, arm reaching out.

The tips of his blonde hair ice up. Frankenstein looks down at his feet. The soles of his shoes have Frozen to the floor. He shakes off the snow piling upon his shoulders and easily breaks himself out. A blizzard rages around him, wind rushing past his ear like the sound of the sea in a shell, amplified to the max. There is nothing to see before him, only a haze.

Frankenstein is awake. He treks through the blizzard. A hand curls around his wrist, pulling him suddenly away from the direction the wind was gusting. Frankenstein throws off the hand.

"M-21?" he says, aghast. "What are you doing here?"

M-21 had looked ready to speak over him, but stopped at that comment. "You…don't you…you already said that to me," he says.

"Said what?"

M-21 frowned and bit the inside of his cheek, but says nothing. His skin is awfully pale and frost is crystallising in his hair, too. He's topless for some reason, and shaking profusely.

"Come here!" Frankenstein whips his winter coat off, draping it around M-21 before he bats him away.

"Don't, it's useless!" A strange look crosses M-21's face and he backtracks. Then he chooses his words carefully. "We have to get away. It's dangerous. C'mon, I need you to follow me."

Snow toils around them. "Lead," Frankenstein says, "A storm is no place to linger." Surprisingly, M-21 takes his arm, taking him in the opposite direction.

They step onto thin ice.

M-21 freezes on the spot, making Frankenstein come to a stark stop. "No," he mutters. They look behind themselves. The ice is smooth and trackless. They're in the middle.

"Frankenstein," a soft voice calls over the ice.

Frankenstein flinches, going forward to where Raizel stood. "Master! It's cold," he says.

"Wait, don't go!" M-21 calls behind him, the beginning of the sentence louder than the end.

His winter coat has disappeared, somehow. Frankenstein peels off his blazer, draping it over Raizel. "It's not much but it'll have to do." Raizel smiles, sighing. "Am I burden to you, Frankenstein?" The question is totally unexpected and makes Frankenstein go colder than before.

"No you're not. How could you be?"

"You will be cold."

"Then I will be cold with a companion." Suddenly, a thought blares in his mind and Frankenstein panics. "M-21!" he calls back, "M-21! Where are you?"

"Who are you looking for?" Raizel asks, head turning around as well.

"Who?" Frankenstein says, "I — M…M…"

His mind blanks. "…I don't know."

Raizel takes his hand, squeezing it. He pulls them close. "I am here, am I not?"

"…Yes." Frankenstein smiles. "But—" He takes a step back, which is a mistake. The ice crumples under his weight, sending him crashing into below-freezing temperature.

His eyes linger on the surface, however, seeing two figures standing with a distance between them. From this height he can make out Raizel and M-21. M-21 seems to looks around, confused. Then he haunches back, and attacks Raizel.

Frankenstein lets out a gurgle of bubbles as his back hits the lakebed. He sits up in his chair, fingers typing away at words he hasn't yet formed in his mind. The smell of earl grey wafts by. Frankenstein is awake.

"Thank you," Frankenstein says as Raizel sets the tea down on the table, and then sulks a little as he realises what he's done — that Raizel had to bring him tea. Raizel rests a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him.

"You've worked enough today." Raizel removes his hand from his shoulder, instead pulling him out of the seat. "Please stop exerting yourself. It's too much."

Frankenstein chuckles a little. "It's work, Master. It's to be expected. I don't tire easily."

Raizel's brows crinkle and darken. Frankenstein doesn't seem to notice.

"I do," comes a voice right beside them. "I'm dead tired of this bullshit." M-21 transforms a werewolf claw for the express purpose of flipping the desk many times in the air. The porcelain cups break and the tea splashes over the floor.

"What the — what's the meaning of this, M-21?!" Frankenstein hears a note of anger in his voice. He feels, all of a sudden, extremely, intently angry.

"The meaning of this is that none of this is reality!" M-21 kicks his chair far away until it cracks on the wall. He slashes where someone used to be, but Frankenstein doesn't know, as they are gone. There are claw marks stretched over the place. "Now listen to me and don't wander off — no matter what!"

"I'll listen to you once you explain what you're doing here!"

"Why don't you as ask that yourself, Frankenstein, huh? What the hell are you doing here? Where _is_ here?"

Frankenstein froze. This was his old bunker at the turn of the century. What _was_ he doing here? "It's an old bunker of mine."

"Ok, do you remember how you got here?" M-21 asks, looking to one side.

Frankenstein opens and closes his mouth.

"Why were you in the ocean, and then on a cliff, and then a blizzard, and now here?" M-21 continued, breathing fast.

"I…" Something comes back to him, an ephemeral thought that vanishes as soon as it has come. "You know something, M-21," he settles on saying. "You know something that I can't know." Frankenstein looks up, eyeing him. "What is it?"

"Listen, Boss," he says, desperate, " _here_ isn't real. We have to get you out of here before _he_ comes back!"

 _"He?"_ Frankenstein breathes. His fists began to shake. Anger grows to fury. "What do you have against Master?" he says dangerously.

"Nothing! Everything!" M-21 answers at once. "No — It's not real — Raizel isn't real!"

Frankenstein grits his teeth. "How dare you." He feels so angry, he feels so angry he could hit him. He short-circuits for a moment, because no matter how low he falls…he feels sick for wanting to hurt M-21. Frankenstein breathes in shortly and then turns around.

"No! Don't walk away, I can't follow—"

"Frankenstein," Raizel says gently.

They're both sitting before the fire in their mansion. Frankenstein is awake

"I don't like it," he says.

"What do you not like?" asks Frankenstein.

"…Distractions."

Frankenstein pondered his words for a moment. "Am I a distraction?"

Raizel looks to him, a bit taken aback. "Not you," he says, "never you. You are the reason I still exist."

Frankenstein feels his cheeks heat up. It was a strange choice of words, but…

"Then what is it that you dislike?" he continues. "Let me right it for you."

Raizel gets up. Frankenstein's about to get up too, but Raizel stops him, shaking his head. This time, Raizel closes the distance, crouching at Frankenstein's seat. "I admire how long you can go on like this, but it saddens me," he says, a pull and weight to his voice. It shakes Frankenstein. "You should rest."

"Master…" Frankenstein says after a beat, swallowing, "I'm plenty rested." The lie comes quickly, though he doesn't know why.

 _Do not trust Cadis Etrama di Raizel._

 _Do not fall asleep._

"Where's M-21?" Frankenstein says out of nowhere.

Frankenstein was about to wake up. And then the scene changed again, dragging him away from his consciousness.

Flowers dot the meadow as Frankenstein turns to his side. The smell of smoke and incense fumes are overcome by blood. M-21 is lying next to him, bloodied and beaten. "M-21!" Frankenstein cries, getting up to check him over. There are burns and scars all over him. They look like…they look like…

The field dissolved, leaving them in a long corridor with only walls and walls and unreality. The red carpet grows redder. The mirrors gleam.

M-21's wounds looked like they've been inflicted by Dark Spear.

"What are you doing here, M-21?" Frankenstein asks, the words practiced and wrong in his mouth.

M-21 takes a lengthy sigh. He leans onto the wall and spits to one side. "Saving you. This isn't real."

Frankenstein blinks. This time, for some reason, he trusts him. "How do we get out?"

"I don't know. I've been weaving in and out all the time — but I just can't seem to get you out of wherever you are."

"There's more places like this?"

"There's — _god_ — Frankenstein, this is about the eighty fifth time I've caught you." M-21 struggles to keep upright. He wobbles against the wall. Frankenstein quickly goes to help him up. He leans his weight onto Frankenstein, eyes never leaving the long corridor. "This particular corridor, have you ever reached its end?"

"I thought we just confirmed that I have never been here before." Frankenstein picks one end and takes M-21 with him.

"Right," M-21 sighs. "Have you seen Raizel yet?"

M-21 didn't used to address Raizel so informally. "No. Why?"

"Alright. Nothing," M-21 says, his voice hiding a triumphant tone that Frankenstein's brows pricked at.

They walk.

They walk for a long time.

"Stop."

Frankenstein comes to a stop. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think you can notice anything that's off in this world, Boss," M-21 says slowly. "We've been walking for what feels like hours."

"Don't be ludicrous. We've only been going for…well we only…" Frankenstein's lips tightened.

"How do I get you out? _How do I get you out?!"_ M-21 drummed at his head. " _Ugh!_ If I don't think of something this will all change and you'll forget everything!"

"Calm down, M-21" Frankenstein says cooly, letting him lean on the wall again.

M-21 flicks Frankenstein's arm off of him, turning away to face the wall. He hides his face, shoulders trembling as he grits his teeth. "I don't know what to do. I wish you can tell me what to do. I even managed to turn you against me before, all because I was too hot-headed!"

"M-21, listen," Frankenstein pats him on the shoulder, "I'm with you right now." His brow crinkles. "Why in the hell would I want to turn against you? You give your hot-headedness too much credit."

M-21 huffed.

"Now pipe down."

"Yeah, Frankenstein."

"No, dear Frankenstein," Raizel says from behind them.

"STOP!" M-21 cries, nails digging into Frankenstein's back to prevent him from turning around. "Don't! — it's a trap!"

"Master?" Frankenstein says with his back to him, totally bewildered. "It's Master, M-21— he's—"

M-21's mouth was moving with no words coming out of them.

Suddenly, he doesn't know why, but he remembers something important said to him:

 _Do not trust Cadis Etrama di Raizel._

Who had said it?

"You're exhausted, Frankenstein," Raizel says from behind him.

"…I'm fine, Master," Frankenstein says. He looks to M-21. M-21 shakes his head hard and Frankenstein is taken aback. His expression is one of intense hate and loathe. Frankenstein lets go of him, startled, but regrets it immediately.

M-21 is gone.

 _What did he say to him, what did he say that was the most important thing again?_

"Frankenstein, you're all alone."

"I…" Frankenstein looks down the corridor, back against Raizel. "I am," he says honestly.

"I'm sorry," Raizel says. Frankenstein's heart breaks, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to leave you like that. Let's go. Back to the ocean."

"Where is the ocean?" Frankenstein asks.

"Where we want it to be."

"Forgive me. But I don't want to go to the ocean, Master."

There is not a change in anything. "I know I've wronged you by leaving you alone. Do you despise me, Frankenstein?"

"No!" Frankenstein says without thought. "Don't say that. You — you know I would never."

"Then Frankenstein, please" Raizel says, a quiet, senseless plea. "… _please_ turn around."

Frankenstein moves to turn, but then stops mid-motion. "Master, why do I have the most peculiar feeling that I — _I can't._ "

He shouldn't.

"Why?" Raizel says softly enough for him to wince. What was he doing?

"I don't know," he whispers.

"Please." Raizel stepped forward, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Look at me."

 _"Master…"_

"I beg you."

Frankenstein turns around.

"YOU IDIOT, DON'T!" M-21 jumps Cadis Etrama di Raizel as he materialises again, clinging to his back and covering his face. With the slightest raise of his hand, Raizel smashes M-21 into the walls, keeping him stuck against it with little effort. Frankenstein sees Raizel's strike in the mirror before he sees it happen before him. He sees Raizel's red eyes in a reflection that did not match what was happening. The eyes in the mirror are horrified.

 _"Wha_ — M-21…"

Raizel turns to him. "Sleep, Frankenstein."

Frankenstein can't believe his eyes. But he's growing tired, wants so badly to close his eyes and drift to sleep.

Red aura wafts around Raizel, but it was not Raizel's. Raizel looked surprised.

"Do not sleep, Frankenstein," another low voice says from behind him. With a flick, the intruder frees M-21.

M-21 balks, staring at the one behind him. "You came."

Frankenstein's falling apart. He turns despite himself and says nothing. The scene is already beginning to change and nothing can stop it.

"Frankenstein," Raizel says again, but there was something different about this Raizel. "Remember what M-21 has said. Do not trust me. And do not fall asleep."

 _Wait,_ Frankenstein tries to say, but the word doesn't make it out.

The red carpet fades away, the walls melt into nothing. They never existed.

As everything leaves, Raizel is the only one that stays long enough. He ambles forward until he's close enough to cup Frankenstein's cheek. "I promise we'll come back for you. Frankenstein, we'll come back for you. We will. Follow what—"

He doesn't catch the end of the sentence.

It is all encompassing, all boundless. The horizon is too far away from him, too distant, and it blends into the sky. There is cloudlessness and then there is this. His hands graze upon the surface he is lying on. Hard deck of a ship. Large sails flap above, sending shadows to move and dance across his face.

Frankenstein is awake.

* * *

Notes.

So I based this story on this reoccurring childhood nightmare. It's not terribly horrific but I hate it. Like, you always start somewhere safe, like home. And then when you turn your back on it, the scene changes. When you turn around trying to go back home, you can't because it's a bog or school or some place you don't recognise. I'd keep going in the direction where 'home' used to be but since it's now a bog that's kind of hard. The thing is, the walls or curtains of 'home' where you're standing still exist. As you move, the world just vanishes behind you. Now you have a bog and an empty street. Anyways, this scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I particularly remember landing in a place with red carpet with stains on the floor. But yes, I think it is the sense of 'wrongness' or 'something that can't be but is' that makes it feel so bad.

I haven't had this dream for years and I better not have it again.


	3. Forget

I know this is late but heres a long one:

* * *

Forget

He knows he will wake up in the ocean.

The day is cloudy, the miles and miles ahead painted in grey and the stretches of sea around him are the same. Sails rise like spires into the air, but here, it is windless. He can't feel the bob of the water and instead feels very much grounded and stable. The ship is made of old wood and smells of sea and brine. Ropes hang loosely at their posts and Frankenstein is standing in the middle of the open deck. Raizel is nowhere to be seen. He knows to expect him, though he does not appear.

Frankenstein is awake.

 _"Aa — Hoy!"_ a familiar voice calls.

Frankenstein turns to his right, eyes falling upon a figure leant over the ship's wheel. There is a pirate's hat adorning his head. The sails are black with skulls and crossbones on them.

"Tao?" Frankenstein is immediately next to him. His boots clack against the floorboards. "What are you doing here?"

Tao grins, poking his too-large pirate's hat back. Then he parts his hair a little, getting it out of his eyes as the hat pressed it down. "M-21 said you'll ask me that."

"Ask what?"

"That."

"Tao…"

Tao straightens, fixing his hat as he falls over his eyes again. "He also told me to tell you that Sir Raizel told him to tell me to tell you—"

"Tao!"

Tao smirks, then scratches his head. "Sorry, Boss. Anyway, they told me to ask you: do you remember what you need to do?" Tao says it seriously, smile wiping off his face like the sun going behind clouds. All is calm. All is before a storm. "Or maybe a better way of putting it is 'Do you remember what _not_ to do?'

Frankenstein frowns. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"And he said that you'll say that too." Tao clicks his tongue. "Alright, I'm going to repeat it. Boss, please," Tao says, voice low, "you have to listen very carefully. The two most important things you need to know are:

You can't trust Sir Raizel

You can't fall asleep

"Got it?"

Frankenstein feels anger crawling through his guts, but quells it on a whim he didn't know he has. "I can't trust Master?"

"I know how it sounds, but you need to listen to me, Boss. Please."

Frankenstein nods despite himself. "Why can't I fall asleep?" he wonders, though the question is useless; he couldn't possibly fall asleep on his feet.

Tao's hat had slipped away sometime between reciting the two conditions and him asking that question. "I don't know. But that's what that Raizel wants you to do. So you can't do it."

Anger begins to boil again. _Why?_ Why can't he trust the one person he's always trusted? He takes a step forward towards Tao, who takes a step backwards. It grows stronger, simmering in the pit of his stomach as the words leave his mind, bringing him to another plane of grey and white. He didn't feel much of anything, this time. When his foot hits the floor, his shoes no longer clack against the floorboards, instead they sink into soft dirt. Frankenstein is awake.

Something grips his shoulders with power, hard enough to bruise and crease his clothes. Tao wrenches him forward.

 _"What_ — Tao?!" he calls, and immediately relaxes upon seeing him. But Tao's eyeing behind him, eyes narrowing into slits as they dart suspiciously from side to side. "Don't fall," he says. Tao points behind him. Frankenstein looks. His stomach takes a lurch as wonders how high up this cliff is, and how long the fall could be.

"We've gotta be careful," Tao says, helping him up. "I think we've got limited time. I'm not sure if time's really a concept here, but the time between the scene changes vary. I thought it might have been the amount of words I've said, but I know I talk more than M-21 so…?"

Frankenstein doesn't understand and can't take much more of this. "Tao, nothing you say makes sense!"

"I already told you, nothing makes sense here!" M-21 growls at the edge of the cliff.

"M-21?" Frankenstein reacts.

"M-21!" Tao cries. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't! You dare say that to me again." M-21 points a menacing finger at him.

"…Ok, ok."

M-21 turns to Frankenstein, but speaks to Tao. " _He's_ coming soon. _He's coming."_

"Already? I haven't seen him yet," but Tao's fingers clench.

"You will, Tao!"

"M-21, Tao," Frankenstein shook his head, trying to dissipate the feeling of vaguessness, and haziness, intangible things. "You're here to help me, I know that. But I can't remember why."

Tao and M-21 share a look. "How do you know, Boss?"

Frankenstein looked at his hands. He doesn't know when they've started to shake. "Whenever you say or do something towards that goal, I think I feel incredibly angry. Irrationally so — I…" Frankenstein stops, not wanting to scare them. "It's not right."

M-21 looks lost for a moment, but then goes straight into business. "Frankenstein, we're here to get you out," he says, stark and sure.

Tao splays his fingers, gesticulating as he spoke. "So we know the scene has to change, Frankenstein has to fall or blink or whatever — and then he forgets everything. Well. Most of everything." A smile snakes across his face as he leans forward mirthfully, shadowing his eyes. "We're not going to play by the rules. Let's wing it." Tao clicks his fingers, winking. "What do you think, Boss?"

"That's dumb," M-21 grunts.

"What do you think, Boss?"

"I tried pulling him in the opposite direction from where he was going, last time. It didn't work."

"Sorry, '21, I didn't know you got promoted to 'Boss'," Tao says snidely, making Frankenstein slap a hand to cover his eyes.

"Listen, you two, if what Tao said before was true then we still have limited time. We've got a plan, now follow it." If no plan could be considered a plan altogether, to be 'winging it.' Frankenstein begins to walk to the edge of the cliff at another spot. Tao and M-21 frenzy, each going up to grab an arm.

"What the hell are you doing?!" M-21 cries, face going red and fearful.

Frankenstein shakes them off vigorously. "Scanning the area," he says calmly. "We need to know where this is, do we not?"

Tao flinched. "This place is a real place?"

Frankenstein frowned. "That was what I was trying to find out. _Not jump the cliff,"_ he says, just a little bit irritated.

M-21's mouth twitched. "Before…the last time — you said the room with the tea and computer was a bunker of yours."

Tao jerks upright, look of understanding and surprise in his eyes. _"Why didn't you tell me that before, M-twenty —_ never mind! This is good news. This is something to go about," Tao mutters. He looks up at Frankenstein earnestly. "We got down one of the places already — it's a bunker room. A solid location. That means that each of these places must also be somewhere you recognise, Boss."

Frankenstein's face falls. He wants to know what's happening, what has come before, but his mind is too empty. It feels too hard for him to think. Thankfully, Tao and M-21 are here. He got angry about something that happened before, but he could never be angry like that with them — that was the moment he knew something was wrong. The feeling of wrongness pervaded the space.

"I don't know this place." His voice comes out quiet and unsure. "Tao…I don't know where we are."

Tao's doesn't go offbeat at all. "Alright…that's ok. You think on it while I think about what the places might mean."

"He's here."

M-21's back is turned on them, faced towards a figure that he was blocking from view.

 _"Frankenstein."_ Raizel took a step towards M-21, and M-21 didn't move.

"Master," Frankenstein replies immediately.

Tao moves with a speed that makes him loose track of where he is before he appears right before him, shielding Frankenstein from behind M-21 and Raizel. "I hate to break it to you, Boss, but you already broke rule number one."

Frankenstein doesn't remember what rule number one is, only that Tao and M-21 are both stopping him from seeing Raizel. "Master," Frankenstein asks, a plea.

 _"What are you doing here?"_

He can't see Raizel, can't see the expression on his face fall and the lines on his face crease. "I'm here to see you, Frankenstein."

"GET AWAY FROM HIM," M-21 starts shouting, "GET—"

"M-21 YOU'RE STRESSING HIM OUT!" Tao joins in.

"Frankenstein," Raizel speaks softly, "come here."

Frankenstein moves before he understands. Tao tries to stop him. Then he is behind him, Tao's voice going loopy and M-21's growing dimmer. M-21 is getting forced back without effort, legs digging into the dirt as he pushes his crossed hands forward to block the repulsion.

"I'm here."

Raizel's eyes are ruby and crimson, blood pools in standstills. Everything about him was a standstill — no time or place or hindrance. Just Raizel.

"I have something to say," Raizel says.

"What is it?" Frankenstein asks, every part of him attuned to Raizel's quips and quirks, how to read him and understand. But Raizel is unreadable, not his body language or voice or eyes. His eyes seem so still that it's eerie. Frankenstein doesn't really notice this; even if he does, he can't remember.

"But I already told you."

Frankenstein blinks, taken aback. The sound of the sea crashes against the foot of the cliff below, adorned with rock and rough.

"Beware the edge."

"The edge?"

Frankenstein turns around. M-21 is gone. He is just in time to see a flicker of white hair among a head of black, disappearing below the edge — _Tao_. All goes strange and uncanny as he runs to the end without hesitation. But the second he feels the falling sensation in the pit of his stomach, his insides upturning and the wind cutting past his ears, he opens his eyes and Tao is nowhere to be found.

Mid-fall, he twists up, wondering what Raizel would think. He hasn't listened to him.

At the top of the cliff, leaning dangerously over it and hand reached out desperately trying to hold onto something — Frankenstein doesn't know what — was M-21.

Breath flutters out of him as he descends, a warm, white haze. Frankenstein looks ahead. The place is completely silent, everything buried under six feet of snow. Not even the creak of a tree branch or a crunch of footsteps upon heavy snow. He lugs his weight ahead, dragging a deep wake behind him. He watches his reflection as he passes rows of icicles clung to dead trees. His reflection is distorted and elongated, only a blend of colours. There is nothing much to see but white here. It is too silent. Frankenstein is awake.

Someone holds his hand in theirs, and Frankenstein balks.

"What's wrong?" Raizel asks.

"...Nothing, My Lord."

"You're cold."

"It's snowing, after all."

"No, it is not."

There is not a gust of wind in this place. Raizel reaches over, touching Frankenstein's cheek. "But it is still cold."

"I have a coat, Master," Frankenstein replies affectionally, gingerly taking Raizel's hand away. Raizel's hand is freezing. "You — you're freezing!"

Frankenstein pulls the coat off of him, draping it over Raizel. Raizel doesn't look pleased. "They lead you astray, Frankenstein," Raizel says.

Frankenstein pulls back. "Pardon?"

"Astray."

Frankenstein, for the moment, doesn't know how to answer him.

"Frankenstein!"

Frankenstein turns to look behind him. Tao runs towards him, breathes laboured. "Don't forget! You didn't forget, right?"

Frankenstein turns back. There is nothing there. What was he facing?

"Forget what?" Frankenstein starts going towards Tao, trying to close the distance. The thick snow around them is gone. He runs fast.

 _Do not…_

 _Do not…_

 _What was it?_

"Did you see Raizel?" Tao asks immediately.

"No," Frankenstein shakes his head.

"Cool."

"Shut it, Tao."

"That wasn't supposed to pun I swear."

Tao is shivering, breaths still too fast. Frankenstein pulls off his winter coat and drapes it over Tao. "Here."

"You…you d-don't want it?" his teeth chatter out.

"You can talk back to me when your teeth aren't about to jump out of your skull." Frankenstein pulls the coat over him tight.

Tao settles and begins to follow him. Frankenstein has begun to walk. He doesn't know when he started doing that. After a period of silence and walking, Tao asks, "So, do you know where this is?"

Frankenstein looks into the unclear sky. "Yes. It's Russia."

"Russia?" Tao repeats, filing it away. They arrive at the edge of a lake. Tao recognises something he does, putting a hand before him to stop their movement. "I don't think we should get on the ice, Boss."

"Why not?"

"Frankenstein, we can't!"

Frankenstein took his foot off the ice. Tao is staring him, expression on fire. "I know what happens next. _You fall._ Listen to me — the things you must not, cannot, and will not do, are: "

Trust Sir Raizel

Sleep

And fall

"Don't fall, Frankenstein! If you fall, this all goes down the drain—" Tao gestures to the snow and sky, looking left, right. "You'll forget and then we'll have to start over."

Frankenstein shakes his head, fists clenching. "I understand. Thank you, Tao."

"Ok. So where do you think this is in Russia?"

"Tver Oblast. The North. Lake Seliger," Frankenstein says, recognition working in his eyes, "I've been here before…on my travels." It was as if a fog had lifted. The place begins to unfurl before him: structures in the distance materialising, a bridge taking form, and the smoke of fireplaces billowing above.

Tao gasped, head turning in all directions. "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? This place is changing. A lot."

"No," Frankenstien says, taking a step forward, "it's as if…I just remembered what it's supposed to be like." Ice cracks beneath his feet. Frankenstein plummets into the water. Tao flinches, jerking forward to take his hand.

"Dang it, Boss. What did I just tell you?" he muttered under his breath. Tao tensed, trying to pull Frankenstein's lower half out of the lake. "I don't get it. Sir Raizel didn't even show up."

Something beneath the ice has taken ahold of Frankenstein. He only notices when Tao struggles, both hands weakening as Frankenstein sinks. He wants so badly to let go.

"Boss don't let go!" Tao shouts.

"Tao," Frankenstein says calmly. "Tao it's alright."

Tao whimpers, eyes beading with tears. "No, no it's not. You're going to fall and you can't. You just can't." He scoffs. "We just made so much progress, you can't forget it."

"Tao." Frankenstein lets go of one hand. Tao lurches forward to hold the other. He speaks slow and calm, doing everything he can to reassure him."You know this is a cycle, and one I can't escape. That's why you're here. I'll try to stay in each place for as long as possible, but it's inevitable that I fall. Let go of me, or you're going to freeze in this lake."

Tao purses his lips, frowning. "I'll find you in the next place, Boss. I'm gonna find a way to get you out."

Frankenstein frowns. With that, he lets go abruptly. Frankenstein went crashing beneath the waves. He falls slowly, ready to see the scene dissolve and change, even if he doesn't remember where he would go to next. There was a pattern and he sensed it, even if he couldn't keep it in mind. Frankenstein looks down. The one that was dragging him down was Raizel.

He opens his mouth, gulping down cold water and causing bubbles to rise and obscure his view. Raizel takes his hand in the water, squeezing it tight. They change positions, Frankenstein floating towards the deep as Raizel watches him from atop.

"Don't worry, Frankenstein," he says. Raizel's voice is sure and steady and coherent in the water. "I'll protect you."

Frankenstein, unknowingly, nods.

His hits the lake floor languidly. He leans back in his cushioned seat, typing furiously in a language he can no longer use.

Raizel is still holding his hand. He breaks the hold first, watching him strangely. What was he looking for? Raizel pours tea in two identical cups. The smell of jasmine clings to the roof of his tongue. He takes a sip as Raizel offers it. Frankenstein is awake.

"Wait," Frankenstein goes, chuckling a little. "You don't need to tell me to rest. I'm fine. Really, Master. I can do this much." Raizel walks over to his other side, shifting the pens and papers and newspapers away from Frankenstein.

A silence passes. "You worry me," Raizel says softly.

Frankenstein goes upright in his seat. "I…I don't mean to."

"I know." Raizel sighs, and Frankenstein's heart goes heavy, he can't bear to see Raizel like this.

Frankenstein lingers there, biting into the insides of his cheek. "Alright, I'll stop now," he says jovially, pouring them both another cup. "What will you have me do?"

Raizel smiles. "I'd like you to rest."

"I think I will," Frankenstein replies.

The computer buzzes and flashes on. "I think NOT," Tao says, throwing his fringe out of the way on the screen. "You," Tao points at Raizel, "You get away from Boss. You're not real." His eyes narrow, going sinister. "Only real people get to talk to my Boss."

"T-Tao?" Frankenstein gets up instantly, knocking his chair away into nothing. "How dare you? How incredibly rude!"

Frankenstein looks to his right, but no one's there. Raizel is gone. He blinks, confused.

"What do you remember?" Tao says without a beat, as if Raizel had never existed. "From the last time?"

"The…the last time?"

Tao nods. The screen glitches, folding Tao's hair and face together. He keeps speaking, image distorted. "Lake Seliger? The ship?"

"…Tao I can't…"

"It's ok, Boss. M-21 already told me that you told him that this place is one of your bunkers'. Can you tell me which one?" Frankenstein gets to work. He opens all the drawers on the desk, fumbling out nothing. Only the top is covered with pages. He flips through them, trying to find coherent work. What was he typing?

"It's one of my very first ones. This is Korea, somewhere underground."

"Korea?" Tao barks, surprised. He looks around the room via the screen. "Good. Cool. Ok then."

The room begins to change, just like the last time. The desk begins to fill up with things, ink and parchment and photos and clues. On the back wall, a large map was stretched across. Frankenstein frowns. He puts a tentative hand on a marker, reading his own handwriting that he did not remember writing.

 _Lukedonia, outskirts. Last seen._

 _Gaul_

 _Germany, Duchy of Württemberg_

 _Burgundy, nothing._

 _Korea, base._

 _You're tired, Frankenstein._

Frankenstein flinched. Suddenly, the map has changed. Same places, same markings, but all that was written down has been rewritten.

 _You're tired, Frankenstein._

 _You overexert._

 _You're tired._

 _Tired._

 _You_

 _should_

 _sleep._

"Boss," Tao says excitedly. "You didn't ask me what I was doing here."

Frankenstein's heartbeat climbs.

The floor sinks and opens, swallowing him up.

Frankenstein stands before the fireplace, feeling the heat on his face. Frankenstein is awake.

"Frankenstein?" Raizel asks.

"Yes, Master?"

"Did you forget?"

Frankenstein pulls back, a little concerned. "Pardon, Master?"

Raizel looks different, somehow. Dark shadows line his face as the glow of the fire reaches it, making him seem gaunt. He looks desolate. He clutches his seat. "You said that you will not tire of me."

The words hang between them for a long time.

"What have I done that has made you think this?" Frankenstein replies strongly. "What is it? Who is it?!" he says brashly.

Raizel tilts his head up. "You're tired of me."

"I don't care how tired I am. I want to be with you."

Raizel's eyes twinkle. "There's someone at the door, Frankenstein."

Frankenstein turns around. There is only the sound of fire crackling. He starts towards the door. The door bashes open before he reaches it, causing wood splinters to fly past his face and in his hair.

"Yo~ Boss. Ah, I know where this is — this is the mansion. It's Lukedonia." Tao's expression falls as he opens his mouth vacantly. "…M-21 would have told me if he saw the mansion…this is new." Frankenstein had no idea what he was jabbering about.

"Tao, there is a manner of custom called 'knocking.'" Frankenstein crosses his arms. He opens the door wide for him, even though the door had clearly been destroyed moments ago. Tao comes in. Upon entering, he abruptly reaches for his back pocket, feeling for a weapon that didn't exist.

"What is he doing here?" he sneers.

Raizel is watching the fire.

Frankenstein looks to him and frowns. "…Master?" he says, boggled. "He lives here."

Tao isn't satisfied by that answer, scoffing. "No, he doesn't. I mean, technically, he might, but I expect that rent while living here is a normally functioning Boss. He's way overdue."

Tao goes towards Raizel. Raizel immediately seems to notice him, getting up. Frankenstein stops him midway. "What are you doing?"

Tao sighs. "Boss, do you remember rule number one?"

His head buzzes. Everything goes hazy. Tao is disappearing and the words form in his head.

 _Do not trust Cadis Etrama di Raizel_

The field of flowers appear, long grass weaving between his hair and limbs. He feels exasperated, totally boneless. The stars twinkle above in the sky, untouchable. Frankenstein is awake. There is no one beside him. No one appears. He has started to expect someone to appear, though he doesn't know who. _What is he doing here?_ Frankenstein twists and turns, uncomfortable no matter what he tries. Nothing feels correct. He needs to do something that's important. _What was it?_

Frankenstein gets up and starts walking. Ahead, the meadow stretches on. He looks down: white and pink daisies, yellow dandelions, bellflowers, and poppies. Behind him, there is an end. A dark forest marks the end to the meadow.

"Alaska," he says aloud to no one. "This is spring in the tundra — after the snow has melted."

The meadow begins to be shadowed by something looming over. Frankenstein notices the mountains in the distance for the first time. "I've been here before," he murmurs, "but…I'm not really here? Am I?"

"Are you?"

Frankenstein lurches up, trying to find the familiar voice. As he looks at Raizel, the world contorts around him, pulling him into somewhere else. The carpet beneath his feet is red and slightly worn. Identical walls go on forever, the occasional mirror framed. Frankenstein is awake.

"Where am I?" Frankenstein asks Raizel politely.

"Where this is."

"Where is this, then?"

Raizel shakes his head solemnly, a sorry expression on his face. "I cannot answer you, Frankenstein."

"Master," Frankenstein says. His hands clench and unclench, hairs at the back of his neck pricking up in fear. "Master, why are you doing this?"

"What am I doing?"

"I don't know!" Frankenstein lets out a breath, buckling before he catches himself. "…This isn't right, Master…and I can't retain _why_ …"

Raizel is before him in an instant he can't recall. He cups his face, stroking his hair out of his eyes. "Perhaps this is simply where you want to be."

Frankenstein blanches in his hold, but doesn't lean out of it. He takes a look at the red carpet again. The long corridor has appeared when he wasn't looking, with mirrors framed at every three metres.

"Why here?"

"Only you know the answer," Raizel says quietly.

Frankenstein sighs. Slowly, he gently takes Raizel's hand away, but doesn't let go of it altogether.

"Where are the children?" he asks him.

Raizel looks impassive. "There is no one else."

"There is." Frankenstein's throat clenches. "There has to be." Frankenstein turns around, trying to look for someone else. There is no one but them in the never-ending corridor. He turns back, more confused than ever. It's slowly slipping out of his mind, the important things, and there was nothing he could do to keep them there.

Raizel's face looks pained. "Aren't you tired, Frankenstein?" he says, a deep consternation in his eyes.

Frankenstein's lips quirk up on one end. "I'm so tired, Master," he admits. "I'm so tired and I want this to stop."

Raizel steps forward, carefully, gingerly, pressing his lips to Frankenstein's cheek. "Then sleep."

Wind courses around them, upturning the place and throwing around the mirrors and framed pieces, tousling reality itself. Frankenstein gasps and stumbles, diving to one side to lean on the wall.

The ground begins to shake and crawl. A large, black blade uproots the red carpet, poking and rising like a crescent moon. Then, the blade pulls across the surface, slicing the entire corridor apart. A hole appears in the space between it, an unreality not visible to the eye. The Death scythe looms out of this dimension. Seira steps onto the red carpet completely pristine.

"Chairman," she says, swinging the scythe safely behind her, "You're here!" She clasps his arm, helping him get upright. Frankenstein wasn't aware that he'd sunk to the floor.

"Seira," Frankenstein says, stunned. Behind her, the floor and the walls and the mirrors began to knit back together, broken glass finding its fragmented pieces and fibres weaving into one another like nothing has happened. All evidence of the rift closes off as easily as it came. There is nothing to be remembered.

"What are you doing here?" he blinks. "Where's — where's…"

"Tao?" Seira finishes. She looks concerned for a moment. "Tao's been hurt. But it's integral someone is with you to disrupt the cycle." Seira looks down both ends of the corridor. "This place never ends, correct?"

Frankenstein's eyes goes wide as he affirms it, "It…it doesn't end. I should know this."

Seira shook her head. "Fine." With that, Seira swept up her scythe again, pointing it towards the place she had come from. "If we can't get out of here by following then we'll do it by brute force." Seira launched the scythe up, bringing it down with immense power as her feet left the floor to put her entire weight into the attack.

Frankenstein braced for an impact that never comes. Seira freezes, strong attack directly blocked by two fingers. Raizel stood before her, shifting the tip of Death scythe to his right between two knuckles. "You are not welcome here," he declared.

Something happens. Seira is thrown back and Frankenstein jumps into action. He kicks off the wall, going at top speed to catch her before she rolls into nothingness. Seira gets up immediately, changing her grip on the scythe. Nothingness appears as the corridor again. "He's strong like the Noblesse," she says. Seira covers her face, spitting blood to the side. "But that is not he."

Seira readies herself for another charge. Frankenstein lunges before her, stopping her in the nick of time. "Seira — no!"

"Chairman!"

"Guys!" someone calls out from down the halls. Frankenstein spins, but sees no one but them. He takes a glance at his reflection in the mirror, only it isn't his reflection. Tao sighs vehemently, his face in every single mirror down the hall. "Don't be brash! M-21 and I couldn't even stand a chance!"

Seira raised her weapon, frowning. "That's why I'm here."

"No, take Boss and run! You can't beat Sir Raizel!"

"He is _not_ Sir Raizel," Seira spat. But she took hold of Frankenstein, both of them sprinting down the hall, Tao watching them run through all the mirrors.

After a period of running, they have to stop to rest. "Tao, Tao are you alright?" Frankenstein asks, basically shaking the first mirror he sees.

"I'm fine," Tao says from behind him, really there. "See? Got a little roughed up, but not like M-21. Haha."

"This place can't be anywhere" Frankenstein says quickly. "There's no corridor that can go on forever."

Tao relaxes. "We know — we just need to know a couple more locations that's not this corridor."

"What will we do once we know all the locations?" Seira asks.

"Don't know, but I'm planning from there," Tao mutters.

"DUCK!" M-21's voice screeches down the corridor. His face flashes in the mirrors for the split second before they break one by one in procession. Upon the ninth breakage, it stops at Raizel.

They'd compiled with M-21's call, Frankenstein, Seira and Tao ducking as Raizel's red powers went over their heads. Frankenstein looks around for M-21 but he hasn't appeared like Tao. Seira and Tao get ready to fight. Frankenstein jumps in front of them.

"Master."

"Frankenstein," Raizel says, exasperated. "Please, come here."

Frankenstein bites down hard and swallows. He shakes his head.

"Frankenstein!" Raizel calls, voice shaking and Frankenstein wants to tear apart.

"I'm sorry," Frankenstein says, shrugging. "But you're not who I think you are. You can't be and I know it." His entire demeanour changes as he lifts his head in anger. "Master would never, on his life, hurt the children."

Tao and Seira glance at each other, unsure what to do.

"I…I rationalise everything and downplay what's right before me. But it's not totally my fault because this place is designed to keep me here. To keep me subdued."

Tears begins to roll out of Raizel's eyes in rows. "If you trust no one else, Frankenstein, trust yourself. You know the truth."

Frankenstein tastes blood inside his mouth and keeps going. "You look so real and feel so real because it's Master you're imposing and this is my head! But it's still not enough — you're a pale imitation of someone who would tell me not to trust himself — all to protect me from you!"

Raizel wobbled back. The rows of tears streaming down his face grew red. It soaked into his collar, running into the clothes and dotting the carpet even redder than before. The ground adjusts to the shade of his tears instantly. Frankenstein is more awake than ever.

And yet, he is so tired.

"You…you're leaving me?" Raizel says. Frankenstein wished more than anything that he could break character, look not-like Raizel so that he could break the trance, but every time he spoke he pulls him back into the web. "You have tired of me. And you said you wouldn't."

Frankenstein's heart broke for something he didn't want it to break for. _"You're not…"_

The sound of glass shifting was eerie and echoing. The mirrors mend, not a crack upon them. Another reflection comes through. Frankenstein's seeing his own surprise in Raizel's face in the mirrors. "Frankenstein!" he calls desperately, "I mustn't be trusted! Don't listen to what he says!"

Frankenstein is speechless.

Red aura pules from the imposter Raizel, flooding the corridor and covering the mirrors. Frankenstein eyes lock with his for a moment. They're angry, vengeful eyes that he's never in his life seen in the real Raizel. His entire body stutters for a moment. The mirror cries from the haze, "Know that he means to harm you, and that is how you should know that he is false!"

Tao takes Frankenstein's arm, pulling him backwards as Seira sets herself on the imposter Raizel. Tao grips his shoulders, breathing heavy from adrenaline. "Boss! The fake Noblesse is about to blow! You're not safe and we can't protect you!" His head dips as he sucks in air. "You have to fall, Frankenstein! Fall into the next world! Restart the cycle!"

Frankenstein clutched Tao back, frenzied. "Fall? _I, I, I_ — I don't—"

"Do what you did before!"

"I don't know how to make it change!"

"Fall through the carpet!"

"I can't control it!" Frankenstein pushes past him, pausing for a moment before he starts going back to where Seira is. "Seira — she's in trouble! I can't let her fight alone—"

"NO!" Tao appeared before him, halting him. "No, you can't, it's too risky!"

"She's fighting alone—"

"HE'S AFTER YOU!"

Tao huffs, catching his breath. Frankenstein's eyes go wide and open. The sounds of the fight has stopped. Raizel is right behind Tao, tears staining his face as he looks at Frankenstein wistfully. He can hardly take it.

"Boss," Tao says, "Run. I'll hold him off." Tao pushes him in the opposite direction.

The push works. Frankenstein placed a foot behind him, meant to easily disable the movement and help him strike back immediately, but the floor disappears. The last thing he sees is Tao facing a bleeding Raizel as he falls and changes everything.

It is all encompassing, all boundless. The horizon is too far away from him in the distance, and it blends into the sky. There is cloudlessness and then there is this. His hands graze upon the surface he is lying on. Hard deck of a ship. Large sails flap above, sending shadows to move and dance across his face.

Frankenstein is awake.

* * *

Notes

You know that feeling of not being able to remember something Important™? Because that is the worst feeling ever. Like, it just hangs at the back of your mind and makes everything else you do suck because what if The Thing you forgot was something really really important?! AHH

zealith - THANK! Me too, poor M-21

Guest763428 - Ahhhh thank you so much! I'm glad the present tense is good for you, I don't do that often as I prefer past tense~ 'Chaotic and patterned' is good, because everything goes slightly more loopy every time it changes...

Elims - Man...I don't know. I LOVE that you called imposter Rai the "Siren Rai." That's amazing. Other Rai is now officially Siren Rai, trying to lure Franken to his doom with Raizel's face. It's really up to your own interpretation with what is happening. Because your interpretation of the first chapter is very interesting, that real Rai appears more than once. But which one is he? Who knows? Not Franken.

Noblesse00 - 'Crack the fake one's neck' I like how you think. I've said this before but writing Cadis Etrama di Raizel as a villain is deeply unsettling in itself lol. Because Rai is Rai and writing him being mean and deceptive feels like I'm doing something morally bad.

Nobody yet - That's the greatest compliment ever! I love inception it's an amazing movie. Also Memento which is also directed by Nolan. It takes a lot of patience to watch Memento I think, but once I got to a certain point my mind blew out of its cranium. Fun experience. We can't compare this fic to that lol but thank you!

vVanilia - Oh yes! I'm glad you liked the surreal-ness - that's exactly what I was going for! M-21 the poor thing though. Thank you.

Thank you.

-earl


	4. Change 1

Change

Part 1

The ship crashes against violent waves, its sails flying as everything around him jerks in different directions. The sound of wood creaking and buckling seems quiet under the howling wind. Sea spray jumps up many metres high and stings his eyes, the taste of salt sticking to the back of his mouth. Frankenstein flinches. The world spins. Storm clouds roll over the sky like the ocean toils around him. The horizon seems hardly there. Frankenstein is awake.

Lightning clashes; he's blinded. One side of the ship flashes white as it rises above the waters before it comes back down hard, bashing against waves. Frankenstein is thrown forward. His stomach knocks into the rails. It's hard to differentiate rain from seawater. Frankenstein shakes his head, trying to get his bearings. He wills himself to focus and the world stops spinning so abruptly that its nauseating all the same.

He must secure the sails. Frankenstein runs across the deck. He finds rope in his hands and he pulls instinctively, like he's done this before. Tying one end down, he rushes to get to the others. His footsteps splash on the flooded deck. The ship will capsize before he manages to tie this all down and direct the ship out of the storm's worst.

Raizel is at the head of the ship, hands still at his side behind the wheel. He watches him.

Frankenstein closes his eyes hard. When he opens them, Raizel is gone. Tao stands where he stood. Tao is struggling with the wheel, stopping it from recklessly spinning and trying to force it to turn away from the storm. He buckles and the wheel rushes in the opposite direction before he slams his body against it. Huffing, Tao turns his head up and waves three fingers at him. "Got this, Boss!"

Over at the other end of the ship, a rope snags tight. M-21 heaves the next one. A gust of wind drags him the wrong way before he corrects himself. "Frankenstein, on your right!"

Frankenstein huffs at them, but it's as if they were always there. He forgets that he was ever alone. Frankenstein dives for the last rope before pulling it back and securing it. The ship rocks dangerously, water splashing aboard and flooding to their ankles. One of the ropes snap. It flies up and the loose sail flaps wildly. Regis appears out of nowhere, catching it mid flip and landing on the railing. M-21 comes and ties it down.

"Hey, Boss," Tao calls tentatively. "I think we're going down…"

"No we're not." Frankenstein jumps onto the ledge next to Tao and then takes the wheel. "We're getting out of the Pacific. Hang on tight!"

Frankenstein turns the wheel effortlessly upright, ready to charge them out of the rapids. Another ship appears out of the blue right next to them. There is no possible way to not see it coming, but it's there, bobbing and ghostlike. There seems to be no one on board. Suddenly, there is distance between them again. Frankenstein grits his teeth. "Am I the only one seeing that?"

"Hey, Regis, you seeing that?" M-21 asks.

"I'm have eyes, M-21!" Regis goes to the side, eyeing the ship. "Watch out!"

Water explodes around them, showing seawater down like rain. "They're attacking!"

"This is getting way too specific," Tao says, squinting. "And way too real." A shot flies overhead, breaking off one of the masts of the ship. Frankenstein dives off the platform, pushing M-21 out of the way of the falling debris. "This can't be happening...it's a total outlier!"

"What — what are you doing? Don't worry about us, we'll just appear somewhere else!" M-21 says, pushing him off.

"Yeah," Tao starts, crouching next to them, "but it hurts in real life too. Just saying," he says, rubbing a shoulder.

"I've had enough of this." Frankenstein gets up, brushing off dry clothes on a wet day. "No one shoots at my employees. No one shoots at my student. Man the cannons. We're taking that ship down." With one bound he leaps back to controlling the ship.

"Man the what?" Tao's mouth droops open. He runs to the side of the ship, head darting around. "Oh my god, he's right. We've got cannons."

"If we have firepower then use it," Regis says, looking over the side with Tao.

Tao smiles weakly. "Hey, M-21, do you know how to ready sixteenth century ship cannons?"

But the cannons began working themselves. "Ah. Right. Not real."

The other ship was bombarded with firepower, the force of the blast reverberating back at them. The entire crew look on in silence. Frankenstein steers towards it to check. Pieces of deck cover the entire surface of the water like mismatched puzzle pieces. Something catches his eye on a piece of driftwood. Raizel's body floats, his head bobbing dangerously above water. Raizel floats away to where he can't see.

"Frankenstein, NO!"

Frankenstein is in the midst of jumping into the sea. "Master!"

He's already on the cliff and no time has passed. It's broad daylight. The sound of waves crash against the shore below. Raizel is in front of him.

"I'm here."

Frankenstein swallows. "There's something wrong about this. About you."

"Me?"

"You're not right."

Raizel stumbles back, mouth opening. "You don't trust me anymore."

Frankenstein has a choice to make — to say what he remembers, or to say what he wants to say. He says what he wants to say. "I do trust you — I want to trust you, but—"

He hears the shot before he sees the red. The sound of it echoes all the way down the bay. Blood seeps through Raizel's white clothes. Raizel is shot through the chest. And Frankenstein is too shocked to even cry out.

"Please get away from my Boss." Takeo steps out from behind him, gun trained on Raizel.

"And you, Frankenstein," he adds, "you step away from the edge."

"TAKEO! — WHAT DID YOU—"

"Principal!" Regis goes to shield Takeo. "Please think about it! This isn't reality!"

Frankenstein blinks, looking back in Raizel's direction. He's gone.

"He's the enemy, Frankenstein. We have to get you away from him."

Takeo tucks his gun away. "He's already influenced you. It's alright — we're here to escort you safely to the next plane."

"The less you get into contact with the false Noblesse the better," Regis adds.

Frankenstein lingers awhile, digesting the information. He isn't so sure why he accepts it so quickly, but it's Takeo and Regis. "Alright. Alright. That was just…jarring to see…"

Takeo smiles a little. "Yeah. Sorry. But hey, at least you're starting to figure things out. You remember a lot."

"I…" Frankenstein shakes his head. "I don't remember enough. I can't retain it — I only know that something has come before. You're trying to get me out of here but I can't stay impartial." He takes a deep, shuddering breath. "It's Master — _how can I_ _not_ differentiate what's him or not?" Frankenstein winces. He doesn't even care that the children can see his shame.

Takeo rests a hand on his shoulder. "Frankenstein, this world was designed you keep you here. It's hard to break the trance. That's why we're here to guide you." Takeo goes to the edge, looking downwards. "Sir Raizel was the one that sent us here. The real Sir Raizel." He turns around, smiling genuinely. "Once we get you out you'll know that there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. This place messes with us all."

"Wait — Tao told me to find out what the cliffside area is," Regis pipes up. "Principal, do you have any recollection of this place?"

Frankenstein takes one more look around. It comes easily. "Sorrento, Italy. I came here during my travels," he says fondly. "I could never forget this view."

Takeo and Regis share a look before turning around. The sunset had engulfed the sky in fire. "How long have we been here?" Takeo asks.

"Time doesn't work the same here," Regis answers. "Principal, you should move onto the next place."

Frankenstein nods. "How do I get there?"

Takeo looks around uncomfortably. "I guess, the same way as usual. According to M-21 — down."

Frankenstein peers down the cliff. "Tao said not to fall. That was to keep me in the same area for a longer time. The only way to get free is to reach the end, isn't it?"

Regis goes next to him. "The end is where it's easiest for us to slip in and out. It's worth a try." Regis holds out his hand stoically. "We'll find you in the next world, Principal. You have my word."

In spite of everything, Frankenstein breaks into a smile. He clasps Regis's hand, shaking it strongly. "See you soon, Regis. And you, Takeo."

Just like that, Frankenstein walks off the cliff. He lands in cold, and no sense that he is falling ever comes over him. The blizzard rages around him as his hair ices up. He crosses his arms, trekking into the snow. He knows that he needs to find someone and that thought keeps him going. A figure appears before him, hair as white as the snow around her. Seira turns around, relaxing as soon as she sees him. "Chairman! You're alright."

"Why would I not be?" he jokes. "I believe you know where to go from here, Miss Seira?"

She shakes her head. "We've tried everything — going in the opposite direction, letting you lead…we're going to end up at the same place regardless," she says.

"So what do we do?" Frankenstein asks, though he doesn't know which place they were supposed to end up in at all.

"We're going to go as this place pleases. Except that we're all coming with you." Seira turns to one side, whispering to no one. _"I've found him."_

"Nice one, Seira!" Tao says from beside Frankenstein.

"Nothing creepy has happened yet, right?" M-21 asks.

"I keep my word, Principal," Regis pipes up.

Takeo hoists up his weapon. "We're all here?"

"It seems so." Frankenstein turns slowly, regarding them all. A wave of fondness swells in his chest, something he can't help. All the children he'd taken in, they'd come for him. They won't leave without him. "So now we all walk as an inexplicably giant moving target?"

"That's the idea, Boss."

"I see."

They walk, expecting to hit the ice. It doesn't come. Instead, bare branches and whiteness meet them wherever they turn. Frankenstein leads the group, stopping every so often to headcount. He fears that one of them will drop off the map and he'll never even notice. Maybe one of them already has and he just hasn't noticed. Maybe there is no one behind him at all. He keeps counting. There are six of them in total. There are five children behind him. Snow crunches beneath his feet. Another figure is obscured by the branches. He nears him, already knowing who it is.

"Master."

 _"What?!"_ Tao shouts, getting in front of him. "Where?"

"He's…" Frankenstein drifts off, shaking his head. "Never mind. I think that was just in my mind." He counts again. There are six of them in total. There are five children around him.

"This is your mind, Frankenstein," Takeo says matter-of-factly. "Form a barrier around him." The group moves, Tao and Seira and Regis on one end, M-21 and Takeo on the other.

"What do mean, a barrier?" Frankenstein repeats after a lapse, a bit annoyed. He doesn't want any of them to get hurt. This is a terrible idea.

"We got hired for security, Boss," Tao states professionally. "And that's what we're about to do. _Secure the school principal,_ " he says, electric cables coiled around his fists, battle ready. "That's what the man's paying us for."

"Not us," Regis remarks with a roll of his eyes.

"That's because you're a freeloader," M-21 adds snidely.

Regis's nose flared. "I will have you know I am Lukedonia's ambassador."

"Seira is Lukedonia's ambassador. What are you?"

"Principal, Tao and M-21 are being utterly _indignant!"_

"Boss," Tao starts, "Regis is picking on his younger peers again."

"Tao, stop it," Takeo states sharply.

"Wha- me? Look at them!"

Something scuttles past white branches. They all stop. They linger a moment, watching. The snow veils everything, even sound. Frankenstein shifts, realising the change. The sound of his breaths have stopped abruptly, though he still breathes. His footsteps don't crunch in the snow and wind howls in his face without sound. The others don't seem to notice it. A flash of light pulls his attention to Takeo and Frankenstein realises he's fired into the forest. Looking back once and opening his mouth, he freezes, eyes going wide. Takeo gives a knowing look, accepts it, and breaks from the group.

 _What are you doing?_

Frankenstein sees a glimpse of Raizel. He glimpses him up ahead and then he's gone, but the image of him stays and _what is Master doing?_ He goes towards him. Regis blocks him with a hand and gestures to Seira before running off in that direction. Tremors shake the place and it's the only way to know that Takeo's engaged in battle somewhere. There are three children left braced around him.

Raizel locks eyes with Frankenstein. He's everywhere. He mouths words. Frankenstein catches them:

 _Remember me._

M-21 points to the distance, where Raizel had been. He grits his teeth, sharing a look with Frankenstein before he goes off. Frankenstein wants to stop him but Raizel is there again, watching. M-21 follows his line of sight and haunches when he sees Raizel too. With a flick, he transforms his claws and treks into heavy snow. Frankenstein continues moving, eyes darting everywhere to no end. Something cracks beneath his feet. He looks down. A silver cross earring lays in the snow. When he looks up again, Raizel is only a few feet before him. He smiles. Calmly, he smiles back.

 _"Chairman — don't be fooled!"_ Seira's voice is harsh and shrill at his side. She takes his sleeve and brashly pulls him backwards. Frankenstein breaks eye contact with him and when he looks again, Raizel's gone. As Seira pulls him back, sound turns back on as if someone has flipped a switch. She touches a hand to Tao, determination set in every part of her. "I'll do it — stay with the Chairman."

Tao grabs her before she leaves. "No! You're the strongest of the group right now. Whatever happens, you stay with Boss. I'll do the yeti hunting."

A beat passes. Seira nods.

"Wait! — Tao!" Frankenstein cries.

Tao smirks, giving him a thumbs up. "Stay with Seira, Frankenstein. I can distract him."

"Tao," Seira asks urgently, "Do we still follow what comes? Do we go on the ice or try to stop it?!"

Tao stands there, lost for words. "I don't know."

"I do," Frankenstein says. "Face him." Alone. He knows what this is, he knows that the children are being picked off one by one. He knows what's coming.

Tao smiles, and then they part ways.

They are walking on thin ice. The atmosphere grows colder and before they know it, they are walking through thick fog. The six metres ahead are visible, but all is shrouded in mist. Seira gets out her soul weapon immediately, pulling the glint of the crescent scythe into being from nonexistence. With a circular swipe, she beats back the fog. It is useless. It seems to lunge back, unaffected, though Frankenstein doesn't remember the period between Seira clearing the atmosphere and when it becomes thick with white once again. The ice echoes into a distance they can't see.

"Seira," Frankenstein asks as they slowly walk the ice. "What happens to me when I see him?"

"Pardon? Chairman?"

Frankenstein sighs. "The objective this round is to stop me from meeting him. What happens to me if I do?"

Seira lowers Death Scythe, thinking on it. "I'm not sure, Chairman. But you remember, don't you?"

"Remember what?"

"Us. What we are doing here and where you've been." Seira bites her lip, continuing. "What happened before you fell into the snow?"

It comes simply to him and he chuckles. "Regis gave me his word."

"I wouldn't know the answer to that, but the fact that you do means that it's working." Seira pointed Death Scythes into the fog again, doing what she can to dissipate it. "Before, you met him in every plane. He makes you forget everything, so that you'll fall and fall a thousand times and never be privy to it." Her voice had taken a sinister tone as she held in her anger.

Red gleams in the fog before him. Frankenstein reacts. "North, Seira!"

Seira jumps into action, going at dangerous speeds on the thin ice to put space between Frankenstein and the false Raizel. "Chairman! Don't look at him if you can help it! Don't listen to him!"

Frankenstein hears her but doesn't nod.

Seira marches into the fog. The clash of weapons echo across the surface and Frankenstein goes towards it, trying to find Seira. Seira skids backwards, hair strewn before her. Frankenstein catches her as she comes to a stop. "Chairman, I need you to run."

"Where is he?"

"You need to get away from here."

"He's there, isn't he?"

"Please!" Seira pushes him away and takes a step back, stepping back into the fog. "I don't know how much longer we can do this but you can't be ensnared by him. I'll distract this one while you make it across!"

Before he can protest, Seira walks and disappears into the fog. The distant sounds of a fight make his hairs stand on end. It sounds too distant compared to where he saw Seira leave from right before him, making no sense. Frankenstein continues on alone. The ice creaks and moans and he hears a crack.

"Stand back, Frankenstein," a voice calls as they pull him towards them by his hand.

Frankenstein retracts his arm immediately. "It's you."

He's alone with him.

"It's me," Raizel breathes.

Raizel, and that thing on his face that he doesn't want to call a smile, too toothy, too wide, with nothing behind the eyes. His expression looks like how it feels after one did not wipe their tears when crying, letting it dry and become stiff like a mask.

"What do you want from me?" Frankenstein keeps his eyes downcast.

"You are the one who called for me," Raizel answers.

Frankenstein huffs, looking up at the sky and then dipping his head in lampoon. "You've never lied to me before so openly before."

"It is not a lie. I can only exist if you will it."

"It is my will that you leave me be," Frankenstein states civilly.

It goes silent for a long time.

"What will you do without me?" Raizel asks softly.

"What I've always done without you!" Frankenstein says, and maybe he's forgotten, or maybe he hasn't — he blatantly meets Raizel's eyes. "Survive!"

Raizel is crying. Tears roll off his face uncontrollably, his face creasing and sinking and before long his sobs echo across the ice. Frankenstein's breath stutters.

"I'll survive, I'll do anything to keep going to meet you again. I've waited for Cadis Etrama di Raizel for so long, I can't fall here." Frankenstein looks this Raizel in his watery eyes, making it clear to him, "You're not real."

All of the sudden, the fog is abruptly whisked away, Frankenstein in the epicentre as it vanishes from the middle of the lake to the edge of it. Then figures of people turn in confusion, eyes widening when they realise where they are. Seira, Regis, Takeo, Tao and M-21 are all on the ice with him.

"Boss!"

"—Frankenstein?!"

By the time they've called out, this Raizel has thrown himself forward, gripping Frankenstein's back and letting his tears fall in his hair and on his shoulders. Frankenstein freezes, unsure what to do. Raizel grips him tight, just crying. Then, on instinct or reflex, he puts his arms around him, too. He holds him before he realises that he is tipping, Raizel's weight pushing him down as he falls backwards onto ice that never touches him. He falls through it, seemingly submerging himself straight to water without the splash, and he realises that the ice above has not even broken as he begins to sink. It doesn't even look like ice — too smooth and perfect. It looks like glass.

Immediately, he's in the room with the chair and the map — the base in Korea. There is no one but him in the room. Frankenstein isn't working on the computer, doesn't need to play pretend anymore.

"M-21? Tao?" he waddles around the place, knocking into outdated items. "Regis? Seira?" He looks to the screen for some reason, squinting at it to do something. "Takeo? What am I doing?"

Frankenstein walks the length of the room, wondering if there was a way out. It's then that he realises that there is in fact no door. Four walls face him in all directions, a perfectly square room. The items he'd bumped into before — a shattered lamp, a dusty compass, and a bronze ruler — disappear. The bunker is completely empty. Except for the desk with the computer. Frankenstein hurries towards it, digging into the draws and finding gibberish on paper. Then,

 _To Boss._

 _From Tao and co._

Frankenstein rips the letter open, scanning it.

 _Hey Boss, we're experiencing technical difficulties._

 _You have to get out of this one yourself._

The handwriting changed into large block letters.

 _FRANKENSTEIN IF YOU SEE RAIZEL PROTECT YOURSELF AND PUNCH HIM._

 _Straight up sucker punch,_ someone else added.

 _Thirded^._

The next line was small and cursive.

 _If you cannot do that, Chairman, then please look away._

 _Get to the next plane._

"How do I get to the next plane?" Frankenstein mutters to himself, turning the sheet over to find nothing more. "There's nowhere to fall."

Days pass.

Frankenstein has been stuck in the bunker for days and no one has come, not even Raizel. He knocks his head back on the wall, his arms around his legs as he snuggles them closer. "…If I create a height to fall from…no, there's nothing…"

Time bleeds through him and he can't tell for sure how long he's been here. It feels like days but has time really been moving at all? The bunker's four walls seem to grow smaller.

Finally, Frankenstein gets up, staring at the floor and then at his fist. He summons his power, pulls back for momentum and aims the full force of the punch towards the ground. It splinters under his fist, shrouding him in white.

He's falling again, catching glimpses of another place as he falls right through. _The mansion, the fireplace, an airy window…_

* * *

Notes

Thank you so much for your patience. If you still remember, this was supposed to be part of last year's December event. Since I didn't do the valentines event I'm going to shove romance down your throats in the next chapter in a huge tonal shift I'm sorry.

Has anyone seen the Final Fantasy 15 'Omen' Trailer? Because I remember very clearly seeing this trailer and then going :O and then when I wrote this fic I had that in mind! Do watch it because honestly the trailer is some gorgeous work. You can find it on youtube, if you watch it you'll get what this fic is trying to emulate.

Laryna6 - Yes I thought the ship fight in this one was...incredibly weird. But I kept it. Tao is wearing the hat in this one too. Now he knows it's not Raizel he's trying to be not nice as possible but it looks like Raizel D: D:

Zealith - Thank you very much! Present tense is a weird one for me. But others do it perfectly!

Elims - The mirror hall is every time I'm ever in a hotel and I look down long, spooky corridors that are super long XD Very cool that it reminded you of that myth though. Husband/wife duo? The only thing that comes to mind is Hades and Persephone though I don't think that's what you mean...Yes! Siren Rai feels real until the Real Rai appears, and every time Real Rai appears Frankenstein knows instantly. Thank you for reviewing, Elims.

nobody yet - hahahha memento!

Pandora-twists - But that's prime M-21 and Tao heheheh! M-21 just doesn't want to stress him out. Tao's trying to be chill and make jokes for the same reason. These guys...

O.O - NICE theories. Got to wait for next chapter though. Ahhh yeah I did realise. I was tempted to put in the flashback backgrounds of Who is the Monster but didn't want to connect it to that too much. Thanks for reviewing!


	5. Change 2

Change

Part 2

Frankenstein lands on his feet in a meadow

There are dark silhouettes in the grass and he readies himself for a confrontation. "Who's there?"

The figures don't stir at his words, but continue watching the stars. Frankenstein comes closer and realises he's looking at himself. He and Raizel lie side by side in the meadow, surrounded by flowers for as far as the eye can see. Their hands are intertwined. Their hair in intermingled between them. He watches himself whisper something to Raizel, eliciting a pleased sound from him. Frankenstein feels nauseous.

The Frankenstein laying in the grass closes his eyes and goes peacefully to sleep. Raizel remains, his head turning to watch Frankenstein instead of the stars.

"I thought you wanted this," Raizel says. Frankenstein gasps at his words. It's as if the invisible film between them, like he's watching the scene out play out sealed behind glass, making it less present, like watching this from a test tube, is gone. Raizel continues looking at the Frankenstein next to him but his words address the Frankenstein that is standing. "I thought you wanted to be with me. "

Frankenstein steps backwards. He feels weak, and is still weakening. He doesn't know what he wants — what's right in front of him. The distance between them never was and Frankenstein doesn't notice the sudden jump. He's looking down at Raizel and the him that is asleep. He is so close to Raizel. If he reaches out his hand, he could touch him. Raizel thumbs the cheek of the Frankenstein amid the flowers. Raizel peers up to see him. He is waiting for an answer. Frankenstein feels rude.

"…I want…"

Raizel has turned back. "You can let your guard down by my side," Raizel says into the grass. He takes a lock of the sleeping Frankenstein's hair, curling it around his finger. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

"I…" A tremor goes through Frankenstein. He falters. Just for a moment.

 _"Not with you."_

The familiar voice is strong and resolute. A hand grabs Frankenstein's from behind, pulling him abruptly back. Frankenstein knows it's Raizel that's got a hold on him, but he lets go just as he regains his balance. When he turns, he finds that the scene has changed again, that he has made it to the last plane. The never-ending hall goes on and on. The never-ending mirrors reflect the same scene over and over. He walks down the corridor at a steady trot, trying to think. Nothing comes to him, and it's all very fuzzy. He knows to expect Raizel and he doesn't trust him, but it's so…fuzzy. He can take a rest. He can sleep, if he wants. It isn't the right thing to do, but that eludes him for now. There is a glitch in the corner of a wall.

There are no corners in straight walls. Frankenstein blinks, eyes focusing and defocusing at the irregularity. It looked like a strip in the air was flashing white and then normal. Then white and some pieces of it fell to the floor like ashes. Frankenstein walks up to it, finding that the corridor continues. Does he remember this place? Has this happened before? He doesn't know. It feels faintly familiar. It all feels faintly familiar. Frankenstein is awake.

He goes down the corridor, and there are two doors built opposite each other. The right is his study. Frankenstein knows this immediately and doesn't question it. The room on the right, however. Frankenstein knocks on the door. He waits for an answer. To his surprise, the door knocks back. Down this corridor, there are no mirrors that watch him. He opens the door. A child's hand clasps him tight. He's pulled in.

"Professor."

Frankenstein does a double take. He looks down as a hand drifts to his mouth, quelling a noise. It's a familiar voice that calls him. A child beams up at him, now, as young and bright as the day he left him. Tesamu giggles. "You found me. Great. I needed you to be the one who opens this place, or it wouldn't work. If I was the one to pull you in, it would compromise this."

Frankenstein swallows his heart and puts on a smile for Tesamu. "Well it's all thanks to you for thinking ahead."

Now it's Tesamu's turn to look very taken aback. But he settles quickly, weaving his fingers together. "I have to tell you something important, Professor."

"Yes?"

"You have to believe me."

"Yes."

"I'm not real."

"You—" He goes cold and then there in no feeling in him. Frankenstein shakes his head. "…I know you're not real." Why did he think he was real? "I know, Tesamu," _Why?_ "But it doesn't matter. Not right now."

Tesamu nods but doesn't answer to that. "They told you not to trust him, didn't they?"

Who was _they?_

"Yes, they did," Frankenstein replies, "and I'm having mighty hard time listening to instructions."

Tesamu smiles at that, a soft, knowing smile that no child should be able to pull. "They're right. And they're wrong."

Frankenstein tilts his head, puzzled.

"They're trying to make it easy for you," Tesamu continues. "But honestly, it's just stupid. It's just confusing you." He pulls a face, something between childish anger at unreasonable things and truly potent disgust. "You can trust one of them. There are two of those nobles but one is real."

Frankenstein looks on, never questioning how Tesamu could know any of this.

"I wouldn't trust him," Tesamu says lowly, a glint in his eye. "But you do. So I will do what I need to do."

His confusion is about to swallow him whole. "And what's that?" Frankenstein asks.

"Hit a face that I'd like to hit. Even if it's not the real one. It'll have to do."

"Hit a — Tesamu?" Frankenstein starts, nose scrunching. When had his violence rubbed on off the boy?

To his greater surprise, Tesamu took him by the wrist, and, with power a hundred times Tesamu's body, pulled him out the door, past the glitch and back down the corridor. They go down the corridor. This time, the mirrors pass them. They are moving but not making any progress, the walls are dragging behind them and the ground has become some sort of conveyor belt.

"You know where each of the places of the dream are, correct?" Tesamu asks in front of him, pulling him along.

Frankenstein nods sharply. There is almost no delay. "Yes. Places I've been."

Tesamu nods back. Frankenstein is now leading and he's looking back at Tesamu. "Yes," Tesamu says, "I've been keeping track of you these last few times. If you know where they are, then you must know why you were there. Just remember that."

"Tesamu!"

Tesamu stops. They are side by side now. He looks up to him with wide, bright eyes. There was a chip in what Frankenstein knows is his last milk tooth, hidden away usually when talking, but it was apparent when he was still. He has a couple of sun freckles on his cheeks when close enough to see. His hair was wild and wavy.

"…You're real."

"What?!" Tesamu yells, stopping abruptly, and Frankenstein has to manoeuvre his legs so that they don't trip over him. He has no idea when they've started moving again, but now they have stopped for sure.

Frankenstein huffs. "You're here, Tesamu," Frankenstein breathes. "You came."

"No. No, I—"

A rush of air ruffles Tesamu's hair, a dark figure looming behind him. Frankenstein lurches in front of him, facing down whatever threat was in front of him. The threat is Raizel.

"Mas—" Frankenstein stops himself, choking on the end of the word. "…"

Raizel shakes his head. "You left me."

"Damn straight, he did," Tesamu spits out, and Frankenstein did not teach him that kind of language.

Raizel, his form shaking, searing, smouldering, turns to look at Tesamu with a completely unmitigated, hateful look. Frankenstein's breath catches in his throat in a very different way. He has never seen Raizel look like this before. Tesamu matches him with a face full of hate.

"You are not welcome," Raizel says to Tesamu, venomous.

Tesamu gathers saliva in a noisy retch. He spits at Raizel's feet. "Fuck you."

"Tesamu!" Frankenstein starts. He pushes Tesamu further behind him. "Master — you—"

"Professor, let the others in," Tesamu whispers, tugging at him from behind.

Frankenstein blanks. "Let the others….how?"

"Professor." Tesamu clutches his sleeve, pulling him down to eye level. "This is your head. You get to decide who to let in. And who to shut out." Tesamu's eyes flicker behind him in surprise but before Frankenstein can flinch to look Tesamu uses his incredible strength to keep him grounded. "Your head. Your rules. Something's hijacked your mind and the only way its getting control is because you're letting it. You're letting it because its made itself _be_ the noble. It made itself _be_ the noble because you _know_ the noble. You know this. You know it. I know you know because you said it out loud in this very place in the last cycle."

Tesamu's sounding very convinced, taking into account that his string of words made as little sense as his presence did. But they sink into him, bury themselves into where it matters and Frankenstein feels a little bit clearer.

"Now let your employees in so they can help you," Tesamu says. "I know I'm only good enough as a distraction."

Tesamu walks backwards. They have somehow changed positions. Tesamu walks backwards to where the angry, scornful Raizel is, he's the one shielding Frankenstein. He needs to let his children in — his other children. He wants to get out, he doesn't want to sleep, doesn't feel tired and he knows they are looking for him. Frankenstein clings onto the thought. A door pushes from the inside to the outside of the wall. Frankenstein opens it like he finally knows some semblance of what he's doing.

"BOSS!" Tao dives into his arms, sending him to bash into the far wall. Frankenstein embraces him back.

"Tao! We need to get out!"

"We know, we're on it!" M-21 says, pulling Tao off of him.

Frankenstein breathes and sees Seira, Regis and Takeo pile out and get out their weapons.

"Where's the imposter?!" Seira yells, anger laced in her voice as she swings Death Scythe dangerously. "Where is he?!"

"Tesamu's holding him off," Frankenstein says. His eyes widen into saucers. His heart plummets into his stomach and his stomach plummets somewhere else. He realises just what he has said and the meaning behind the words. "TESAMU?!"

When he turns around, there is no child. A fully grown man was getting throttled by the noblesse. The others look to each other in alarm.

"I don't want to help him," Takeo says.

"We're here to help the Principal, not him," stated Regis.

"Pull yourselves together!" M-21 barked over them. "We'll all be helping Frankenstein if we jump fake-Raizel together!"

This is met by a flurry of nods.

"Chairman," Seira says with her voice lowered here for the first time. "Can you fight?"

"Fight? Head on?" Frankenstein exclaims, and he knows that this would be hard for him.

Regis butts in. "The new plan is that we repeatedly hit the false noblesse into submission."

Frankenstein looks over the children. His children. After a hundred, thousand repeats of the same cycle, they will never give up on him. It was infuriating, to say the least. Warmth spread from his chest, his children crowded around him.

"Please don't question my sympathies, Seira, Regis," Frankenstein says with a smile, a smile they recognise. "I know not what it's like to not fight to teeth and bone." He steels himself to face Raizel's face and smiles once more, genuinely, to the children. "You ask it of me; I cannot refuse."

Her lips curl upwards. Tao chuckles. M-21's brows raise suspiciously. Takeo and Regis look impressed. "Then let's stop wasting time," Takeo says. "Let's fight."

"All of us. Just whale on him," Tao says sinisterly. "Hit him until he drops."

This time, Frankenstein nods without hesitation. "Lead the way."

The children immediately get to work around him, Takeo setting down his more-than-colossal sniper on the ground and aiming through the scope to support Tao who charges ahead. Electricity snaps around them as he evades strikes of red aura. M-21 shadows is whacked aside but Seira stops his skidding with the flat end of Death Scythe. They share a disingenuous look before Seira scrapes him off his feet. Tesamu balances himself on the blade before Seira throws him forward. He uses the force to propel himself back into the fake-Raizel along with the rest of them.

There are too many strong enemies at once. Frankenstein knows that the real Raizel would have no trouble wiping out many enemies. Raizel used his powers to overwhelm and extinguish, like taking care of ants by flooding their hundred metre vicinity. This Raizel — this was not Raizel. If his strikes seemed powerful before, they now fell flat, unable to keep track of everyone taking turns to circle him.

Seira digs Death Scythe into a bolt of red energy. As it splits, it becomes purple. The false Raizel whirls around to send a blast at her, but two people had acted at once — M-21 tackling Raizel even as he was furled with red and Takeo pushing Seira out of the way and bracing. M-21 is thrown off easy as Raizel gets up. Frankenstein notices that it is purple flames that burn M-21. He pats them off his arms, rolling his shoulders.

Regis goes in next. Either Regis is getting faster or this Raizel is getting slower; Regis lands a hit in his back before cables wrap around his waist and pull him back to safety. At the same time Raizel turns to attack Regis, Tesamu bounds up to him and hits him in the same spot. The red around them blinks purple for a second.

The more aware he becomes, the less powerful this Raizel becomes. Frankenstein is awake. "RK," he starts, stepping towards Raizel, "cover me."

If this Raizel can't take people down with one fell swoop, then… This called for close combat. Close combat was his forte. Close combat was not Raizel's style.

"Don't let him get the chance to use aura blasts. That's all."

He charges. Raizel looks startled. He thinks he should care but he doesn't, this time. Frankenstein pulls back his fist and strikes Raizel in the jaw.

Tao gasps. Regis slaps a hand to his mouth.

"Yeah…this was what I wanted but it's also really nauseating," M-21 mutters.

"Are you kidding?" Tesamu murmurs quietly. "This is what I wanted, period."

Raizel's expression darkens. He puts up two fingers, aiming it at Frankenstein. Frankenstein charges without hesitating anyway and M-21 disarms Raizel's stance before Frankenstein gets another hit.

It occurs to him that despite all their training on the island, they've never really had to fight together on the field like this. Frankenstein feels an odd sort of pride as he beats in what looks like his master's face with his children, and with every hit his head feels clearer. Raizel lunges at him sluggishly, Frankenstein drops. Seira takes the opportunity to swing Death Scythe, which is blocked by a burst of red-purple. Tao whips a cable around his leg, unbalancing him before the cabe is cut. Regis jumps on Raizel's back and lands two hits before M-21 pulls him off and away from a counter attack. Frankenstein elbows Raizel in the leg before jumping up and doing the same to his collar bone, Death Scythe coming between them as Raizel attacks again.

All the while, the place is crumbling, the mirrors become dimmer, the carpet is unravelling and the endless corridor is swallowed by darkness.

Raizel, bleeding, huffing, injured, buckles. He props himself up by the wall. There is no reflection of him in the mirror opposite. His tears roll off his cheek in two trails, never stopping. Frankenstein feels something for him when he stops to breathe. After all, he _looks_ like Raizel.

"…Frankenstein," he whispers. _"Frankenstein…"_

Frankenstein swallows. M-21 walks staunchly in front of him. "Sorry. You've got to book-in to talk to the Principal. School policy."

Tao masks his laugh with a scoff. "Our Boss is a busy man."

Raizel's tears keep running. It looks familiar. Far too familiar. Frankenstein has seen Raizel cry often on the battlefield. His powers are too much of a strain. After a battle he can feel it through their bond, how Raizel's heartbeat makes his own irregular and strange, how Raizel's trembling fingers cause him to mistype a word on the keyboard, how he hardly has the control to keep his deterioration to himself. Frankenstein knows when Raizel is crying from power exhaustion, and he knows when he is crying from grief.

The face this Raizel presented is the same one he'd seen in the land of the werewolves. Raizel exhausted and his heart breaking into two, Raizel begging him to stop because it hurt to watch him pull himself apart, _there's no need for you to push yourself so hard for me._

And that was how he knew this was all in his head, because no one else had seen _that_ _face._

"Stop it."

"What?" M-21 glances back.

"I said stop it!" Frankenstein growls and M-21 pulls back nervously.

Raizel breathes heavily, looking up at him.

"Get that look off your face. Get his face off of your face. Stop it," Frankenstein says. The others look at him worriedly, but don't say anything.

Raizel's lips wobble. "Where did I go wrong, Frankenstein?" He stumbles a little, clutches onto the wall harder.

"Everything."

Raizel looks confused.

"This entire place. The sea, the cliffside, the snow storm. The room, the meadow, the mansion. They are real places but that doesn't matter," Frankenstein says, shaking his head slowly. "They're places I've been. I've been all over the world, you know." He pauses. "You would know."

The children shuffle behind him. He wonders how they must feel, seeing Raizel like that. Even if it wasn't really him.

"This entire place is a paradox. It goes on and on, taking me to places I've been. I went to those places to find my master. It operates on the notion that I am, for some reason beyond me, still looking for Master. But I am not. He has returned to me. I don't need to look," he states. "But it's a routine I know. But I am not an isolated target. You should have known they'll come for me," he says, and he can feel the children straighten with pride behind him. Frankenstein shakes his head, lips twisted in a smirk.

"You want to use his face and my search to make me say _yes_ to you," he says. Frankenstein's hands unfurl from fists. "You want me to keep playing pretend? I think not."

Raizel wilts, frightful and stricken.

"You want me to stay with you forever? No chance."

Raizel's face begins to crack.

"You want me to die to be with you? I refuse."

Raizel's face crumbles and his eyes turn purple. Even as his face begins to disappear, his tears keep running. It's so quiet that Frankenstein can hear them drop to the floor. Raizel lets go and falls.

He falls into Frankenstein's embrace as he lunges forward to catch him. The children are alarmed behind him. He isn't so sure what he's doing himself. But—

"You know there are easier ways to get my attention."

"No. No there is not. All you care about is him," the figure says, not really Raizel anymore, not really anything at all.

"I do. But I can care about multiple things at once. Just as you can hold multiple grievances at once."

"You don't call us as often," the voice says, mangled and a thousand mismatched sounds knitted together. "You don't…"

"You stopped speaking to me," Frankenstein says stupidly. "Stopped occupying my thoughts. Stopped whispering. It was silent." He holds their hand, and as he squeezes it it bursts into nothing but black and purple. "Unbearably silent. I thought, perhaps, you've grown tired of me."

"No….no…" the voice says, and they grow once again incoherent. "We… _Love_ …"

Frankenstein feels bad for it, but he glares backwards. The children look even more alarmed for a moment before Seira gasps, Takeo reaches out, Tesamu, a child again, disappears. Frankenstein has control again. He uses his power and lets the children out. They all fade away. He knows their consciousness will wake up, safe.

"You don't have to say it," Frankenstein says, turning back to them. "I know."

"…We _Curse_ …"

"You curse me. I know."

 _"—Curse you…"_

"I'll take it. I'll take it all!" Frankenstein says.

The figure trembles and the trembling spreads, running off of Frankenstein's fingers but he holds on.

"No man can live forever," Frankenstein says quietly. "I've lived for a long while now, but this is not my time. One day, it will be. And you'll be there waiting, won't you?"

They coil back. The corridor has long dispersed. Everything has dispersed. There is nothing but black space, and then something darker than that. There is a trembling. Frankenstein puts down his hands and looks to the space around him.

"…we curse you."

"Then wait for me."

"We curse _him!"_

"That's taking it too far!" Frankenstein growls into the dark.

They rumble in the distance and they spark near his skin. They're everywhere. They weep.

"It was just us for a long time before we met him, wasn't it?" Frankenstein starts again, softer.

"….Ours…" they say.

"So you had me all to yourselves. But that's no excuse for this. You need to learn how to share," he says stupidly, almost petulantly.

"…curse you."

Frankenstein sighs. He sits down in the empty space. "I will stop just drawing your power. I'll call for you. I promise."

He feels a flicker of something behind his neck. He doesn't feel the need to look back.

"Just promise me you'll never dress like him again."

 _"…You…did it…"_

Frankenstein huffs exaggeratedly. "I know I was filling in the blanks but I—" Frankenstein stops himself. He runs his hand through his hair. Lots of hands run through his hair. Frankenstein stiffens but he doesn't do anything. _Filling in the blanks._ And what they've said to him, _'can't exist unless you will it.'_ The realisation of what's fantasy and reality catches up to him. He is intently aware of what the children have seen, what they've seen before slipping between the planes. What Raizel has seen. Frankenstein buries his face in his hands. The trembling possesses him, creeping into his bones, and the trembling shakes him from within. "...He knows now. He knows everything. _Everything."_

 _Everything: how Frankenstein imagines holding his hand and how much he wants to kiss it; how ready, how eager he is to bend the knee, how he wishes he could do the ludicrous; how he wants to be close to him, close enough to touch, close enough to say I love you and Frankenstein can't hear himself but Raizel, Raizel can, because every time he chooses to hold his tongue Raizel can see something unfinished in his eyes and_ — now he's seen it all, now he's seen every icky indulgence, every traitorous, honey-laden thought that Frankenstein fantasises about, and he is _guilty, guilty, guilty._ Because in his fantasies, _Raizel loves him back._

"I'm _sorry,"_ Frankenstein says, and he whimpers, wetness trailing between the cracks of his fingers. _"I didn't mean to treat you like him."_ But he does not treat Raizel like that. _"I'm so sorry!"_ How he wishes he can treat Raizel like that, with desire. To be able to meet his eyes and not feel the fear that makes him need to look downwards.

He is awake, and for the moment, he wishes he is not.

Dark Spear has only stepped into a dream he's constructed, a thing of his own making, they had snuck up behind him in his sleep and amplified what was already there by ten-fold, a hundred-fold. They want to consume him. They want him to stay, but, in the start, didn't he want to, too?

The darkness freezes around him. The trembling stops. It goes quiet. Hands slither around him, cupping Frankenstein's cheeks; hands squeeze his arms, put weight on his shoulders and hands cover his back and leave nowhere unprinted. They are connected. They weep as Frankenstein weeps, or maybe it is the other way around. Frankenstein doesn't know. Frankenstein has mourned them, and mourned with them for a thousand years. Now, they mourn for him.

 _"Fran...ken...sstein..."_

Nobles are not like humans. Nobles do not need partners, for reproduction or otherwise. Nobles do not need those kinds of things, and Frankenstein doubts that that has ever crossed Raizel's mind. Raizel waltzes through school children and strangers who are drawn to him and desire to him without so much as batting an eye.

The space around Frankenstein contorts, putting pressure around him, pulsing. The fire and brimstone and lightning are tucked away. They don't burn. They don't bite. They just stay like that, braced on him. Frankenstein removes his hands from covering his face, holding them limply at his sides. "It's fine," he says to them. "Fine. I'm used you being cruel. We both know that Master..."

Raizel does not feel that way about him. It has never been a possibility. Frankenstein has always known. For when Frankenstein had taken the knee for the first time, he did not plan to fall for the one he follows. He and Master talk in pleasantries. He and Master stand feet apart and Master doesn't know how Frankenstein counts the hours and minutes until he can next see him. He and Master live together. He and Master regard at each other at arms length. Frankenstein can say anything before him, he can tell Master everything except the thing that matters most. Master dislikes bowed heads and submissiveness and lips to his ring. It's the reason he'd retreated from the rest of Lukedonia, from the rest of world until now. Outwardly, Frankenstein has not shown a shred of what he really wants. What he really wants doesn't matter. What matters is what Raizel wants. Frankenstein knew, from the depths of his heart to every logical nerve in his head, that Raizel does not want him.

That has never mattered for the longest time. It shan't matter. It still doesn't.

The space around him coos, hands caress him from the depths. Frankenstein chuckles.

"It's a miracle. How I can turn a blind eye to get what I want," he says. The dark mass shifts around him like a yawn. "That I can pretend I can lie next to him. That he can touch me. That maybe, he'd want to."

The darkness swirls and writhes and squirms, the weight on his back doubles and he trembles with them again. Some weight leaves his back. A hand grasps his wrist from behind, stark, and strong, and begins pulling him. Frankenstein pulls back without looking and scoffs. "Let go."

It grasps his wrist again, pulling him, and Frankenstein is in turmoil and shame and guilt and he throws the hand off of him, whirling around in rage, _"Let go of me!"_

It's Raizel. Standing there with his hand outstretched, eyes wide and, and _grievous_.

Frankenstein gets up, wiping tears off his face with a brutish swipe, barely containing his anger. He'd just warned them not to do this, they could toy with him in any way but _this_.

"Stop it! Just stop it! Stop looking like him — I, I — I ..." Raizel is still holding onto him, both his hands clasped onto his. Frankenstein looks away sharply. "Please stop. Let go of me."

"No. I refuse."

"—DARK SPEAR!"

"Look closely. I am not them."

Frankenstein falters. Slowly, he looks up again. Raizel gives a small, tentative half-smile. His eyes look bright but he looks frenzied, shaken, and he's never been so _present_ before. Like he was taking part in this world instead of watching it pass him by, seeing it act out passively. He'd seized Frankenstein's hand and hadn't let go.

Frankenstein cannot help his eyes from watering, his insides fumbling to remain coherent. _"...Master,"_ he whimpers, and he hates himself for it to be a whimper, he wishes he can take it back. He doesn't think he can take anymore of this, he can't take anymore or he'll break, and if he breaks in front of him, in front of the true Raizel, he'll...he'll...

Raizel tightens his hold on him, squeezing him tight, painfully tight. He pulls him in unbearably slow, pulling Frankenstein in until the space between them is small and frightening to Frankenstein. "I don't want to let go, Frankenstein. May I hold you like this? Just like this."

He can hardly hold himself together. Frankenstein dips his head.

Raizel smiles, exhaling in relief. He doesn't bring Frankenstein's hand closer to him — instead Raizel bends low, his black hair just veiling half-lidded, reverent eyes, and he kisses it.

 _"Ah..."_ Frankenstein interjects, helpless. Frankenstein tenses but keeps still. There are so many things that are wrong with him that he can't keep track and does nothing but abide. _God,_ he wants this. _God,_ he's so ashamed he wants this, that he's savouring the feeling of Raizel's lips on his skin, and it will feel less painful if Raizel took Dark Spear and impaled him with them. _God,_ he deserves to die. For this is _his god_ , and it will be so much easier if his god just struck him down from where he stands. To punish him for doing something not in his place, for falling for someone he shouldn't have fallen for, for daring to in the first place, for the mere, flimsy _thought_ of it. But the feeling of his lips on his skin ignites something foul in him that he can't keep down and the feeling is bliss at the same time.

Raizel rises gracefully and regards him. He doesn't let go of Frankenstein at all. "I do want to, Frankenstein," he says, totally blasé, "I do want to touch you. If you want it, I will lie with you. If you want it, it's yours."

He says it so seriously and blatantly and direct that Frankenstein quivers.

"Frankenstein," Raizel says, and his voice is tight, "my dear Frankenstein, I do nothing but cause you distress. I am blundering and unrefined and I wish I did not make you feel like you have to conceal what you feel."

"Master!" Frankenstein shakes his head. "No, no it isn't...you don't have to compromise. You don't have to do anything. How I feel about you will not be a concern. When I wake up, everything can be the same. It's alright."

Raizel saddens. Then, suddenly, he steps in close and puts Frankenstein's hand square on his chest and ignores how Frankenstein flinches. "You did not get 'the memo.'" He tries again. "Nothing can be the same. I will not let it be the same, Frankenstein, because I, Cadis Etrama di Raizel, love you."

He — _what?_ Those words are too much, Frankenstein clenches his eyes shut before opening them wide.

"Please _see,_ Frankenstein, that I love you. I've loved you all the time, from the time you boarded in my home, from the time Dark Spear had consumed you and I acted, from the time before I had to leave you, from the time I met you again in the school. I fell in love you so exceedingly, embarrassingly fast, I did not know yet what to call it," he says. "Nobles do not feel the same way humans feel. But, Frankenstein, oh, Frankenstein," Raizel says, his heartbeat climbing and feeling like it's about to burst under Frankenstein's fingers, "when you did me the honour of bonding with me, I knew that is false. Not a day goes by where I do not think about how much you mean to me, and how I want you to live without guilt or pressure because of my thoughts."

Raizel pauses, breathless for a few words, and smiles while shaking his head. "I am sorry I am so foolish. I am sorry I am so blind. If I had known that you felt like this...I would never had made you wait so long. Please, _please,_ Frankenstein, will you accept me?"

Frankenstein's knees were extremely weak. He just stares at him, his mouth parted slightly, the cogs turning in his mind.

"I..." he manages at last, his voice hoarse and broken.

He watches a smile widen across Raizel's face, his eyes half-closing as he—

He's gone.

Gone.

"Mas—"

The place falls totally blank, without something storming in the distance, and before he knows it he is in the middle of a black, roaring sea of tendrils and hands and a million heartbroken souls melded into one. Dark Spear screams in his face and he recoils and Dark Spear is tugging on his body and he flinches and everything is in disarray.

"I keep disappointing you, don't I?" Frankenstein says calmly. "I can't be sorry for feeling the way I do, Dark Spear. But I told you, this is not the time. I need to go now."

Dark Spear trembles and trembles but they don't cease. "We Curse You," they sing, a eulogy, "Curse you."

"I know. And I'll take it. Goodbye," Frankenstein says, and he closes his eyes for the last time here, ready to wake himself up into his body.

* * *

Frankenstein jerks awake, taking a large, shuddering breath.

"I do!" he says aloud, fumbling to get up and crumpling into the ground of his lab and the world's a blur. "I do!" he says, voice breaking again.

At once, the children are at his side, helping him up.

"Frankenstein!"

"Boss! Boss, finally..."

"Chairman, are you alright?"

"You do, okay, okay," M-21 echoes, alarmed. "Get up and the first thing you do is scream, okay. You do — what?"

Frankenstein lets M-21 help him up, not worried to put his full weight on him. "Tes...Tesamu?" he asks.

M-21 purses his lips and shrugs. "Outta here the moment he knew you were going to be ok."

Frankenstein nods. Frankenstein looks at them all, his children who have done so much for him, and he is thankful and grateful and elated. "Where's Master?" He needs to see Raizel.

Takeo leans an arm on M-21's shoulder and points to the side. "He's there."

Frankenstein near runs to close the distance between them, Raizel getting up from the makeshift bed undoubtably for him to find Frankenstein in his sleep. Raizel wakes up alarmed but alright. "Frankenstein?!"

Frankenstein goes to his side, taking his hand and returning what he'd given him immediately, dipping eagerly to kiss his hand over and over and over, trailing kisses his arm until he reaches Raizel's neck and Raizel pushes their heads together. "You...your answer, Frankenstein," he says, breathless and blushing and just as incoherent as Frankenstein. "Will you have me? Even when I'm so late?"

Frankenstein closes his eyes. "I've been yours for a long time, Master," he says. "Of course. I do. I do." When he opens his eyes, Raizel pulls him in as close as possible, smiling.

"W...well...okay. We'll...be in the next room," Tao says, shepherding the rest of them out for some privacy, Regis trying to peek over Seira obscuring his eyes.

* * *

Notes

My plan for getting around fic I'm not confident with is to leave it for a month until I either can't take it anymore or so much time has passed that the pain no longer registers. It's my primary method of posting these days. Thank you for staying with this one. Tesamu...is a weird case in this...it's the same characterisation as the one in Who is the Monster...but that's not fic-versely possible...so "?"

Thanks~


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